Fulham 5-0 West Ham United
Premier League, Craven Cottage, Sunday 10 December 2023, 2pm GMT
West Ham United’s six-game unbeaten run came to a shuddering halt at Fulham on Sunday, as the Cottagers cantered to a 5-0 victory in west London.
The Irons were unable to build on their stunning win at Tottenham Hotspur in midweek, as goals from Raúl Jiménez, Willian and Tosin Adarabioyo had the game all but won by the break.
Substitutes Harry Wilson and Carlos Vinícius added a fourth and fifth for the rampant hosts after the break to leave West Ham well beaten and ruing a missed opportunity to move into the Premier League’s top six.
Illness in the camp forced David Moyes into two changes from the side which in north London, with Pablo Fornals and Aaron Cresswell replacing Edson Álvarez and Emerson in the starting XI.
The early signs for the visitors were positive, with both James Ward-Prowse and Jarrod Bowen forcing home stopper Bernd Leno into decent saves with well-struck efforts from range.
But Fulham weathered that fast start and began to impose themselves on the contest, with Willian shooting at Łukasz Fabiański after being played through by Jiménez’s chipped through ball.
When Jiménez’s first opportunity arrived on 22 minutes, the Mexican showed his ruthless side by running onto João Palhinha’s cross with an unstoppable bullet header.
Before the Hammers knew it, they were 2-0 down, as nine minutes later Andreas Pereira kept the ball alive after Fabiański parried Alex Iwobi’s effort to lay the ball across for William to sweep home.
Bowen went close to halving the deficit six minutes before the interval, but after Vladimír Coufal hooked a cross into the centre of the box, the No20’s volley was directed too close to Leno.
Then, two minutes later, the visitors were punished again as Pereira delivered a corner from the right and Adarabioyo rose highest to plant a header home, via Coufal’s attempt to nod off the line.
Moyes changed personnel and system at the break, with Emerson and Dinos Mavropanos entering the fray, but it was Fulham who should have added the game’s next goal on 56 minutes.
The Cottagers’ own interval arrival, Wilson, turned Kurt Zouma neatly inside the box, but could not beat Fabiański with his right-foot effort.
The Wales international did not have to wait long for his goal though, curling a wonderful left-footed shot from 20 yards into the top left-hand corner to make it 4-0.
Leno held another Bowen snapshot as the Irons sought a consolation, but there would be no festive cheer for the visitors, who conceded a fifth in the final minute.
Wilson’s run was timed perfectly to dart onto Harrison Reed’s ball through the Hammers’ defence, and he squared unselfishly for fellow sub Carlos Vinícius to stroke home.
Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Bassey, Adarabioyo, Robinson (Ballo-Touré 72), Palhinha (Reed 79(, Cairney ©, Willian (Wilson 72), Iwobi (De Cordova-Reid 79), Pereira, Jiménez (Carlos Vinícius 72)
Subs: Rodák (GK), Tete, Muniz, Lukic
Goals: Jiménez 22, Willian 31, Adarabioyo 41, Wilson 60, Carlos Vinícius 89
Booked: Palhinha, Ballo-Touré
West Ham United: Fabiański, Coufal, Zouma © (Ogbonna 64), Aguerd, Cresswell (Emerson 46), Souček, Ward-Prowse, Paquetá (Benrahma 64), Kudus (Mubama 64), Fornals (Mavropanos 46), Bowen
Subs: Anang (GK), Kehrer, Cornet, Ings
Booked: Cresswell
Referee: Paul Tierney
Attendance: 23,988
