West Ham tired? Well, Marco Silva certainly doesn’t think so, and he is preparing for a full-throttle Hammers side when Fulham visits the London Stadium.
West Ham vs. Fulham is the 2 pm Sunday Premier League kick-off, which gives David Moyes’s men precious little recuperation time following the trip back from Germany. Dinos Mavropanos has picked up a knock, Jarrod Bowen remains injured, and Alphonse Areola faces a late fitness test.
To add insult to literal injury, Kalvin Phillips has injured himself by kicking someone else… I promise that’s not made up.
Added to the fact that the team is probably completely exhausted due to travel, fixture congestion, and a lack of rotation, we have the perfect mix for a lacklustre performance against The Cottagers.
However, Fulham manager Marco Silva is having none of it. “West Ham is a team that wants a response from their last game, like us. A team that is fighting to be in Europe once again, and their position on the table, they want to probably climb up or keep their place.
Silva is expecting the best version of West Ham
“That is what I’m thinking; I’m not going to prepare a game thinking if they are going to be tired or not.”
“They want to fight to win the game, for sure. They’re playing at home with big, big support, and it’s going to be in that direction that we’re going to prepare the game.
“We go to play against a very good side that the last three seasons in a row arrived in the Quarter-Finals of European competition, one of them they won.
Sounds like fighting talk, albeit respectfully. Considering Fulham bested us 5-0 at Craven Cottage, we’d better hope to find some energy reserves from somewhere… or perhaps use our substitutes?