Fulham 1-0 West Ham: 45mins
West Ham produced an unimaginative and stale first half against Fulham at Craven Cottage in the Premier League.
Hammers head coach Julen Lopetegui decided against using a playmaker in midfield, deploying Tomas Soucek as a supporting attacker and leaving Brazilian Lucas Paquetá on the bench. With Edson Álvarez and Guido Rodríguez playing as two holding midfielders, the Hammers never gained a foothold in the first half.
Max Kilman was fortunate not to concede a penalty against Adama Traoré, but Fulham’s pressure eventually told as they took the lead through Raúl Jiménez. Konstantinos Mavropanos was the main culprit, breaking ranks from West Ham’s offside trap before delaying his challenge on Emile Smith Rowe.
Overall, West Ham failed to produce a shot on target in the first half, which was unsurprising given the lack of midfield creativity and a very tired Michail Antonio up front.
Things will need to improve in the second half with Fulham the much better team.
I hope Antonio and Soucek are subbed early on.
Summerville and Soler or Paqueta.
Switch Kudus to the right and Bowen central.