By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
West Ham are absolutely flying and, for once, Nuno Espírito Santo heads into a cup game against Premier League opposition with virtually nothing to lose.
The Hammers are top of the Championship, unbeaten in six and have won four consecutive games following that sensational 6-0 demolition of Wrexham.
Now Fulham arrive at the London Stadium still searching for something to inject a bit of life into a poor start to the season.
All the pressure is on Fulham
In this video, I discuss the unusual position Nuno finds himself in ahead of the Carabao Cup clash.
Does he go strong, attack Fulham and try to knock Premier League opposition out of the competition? Or does he rotate his squad with the huge game against Millwall coming at the weekend?
For me, he can pretty much do whatever he likes.
Win and this incredible momentum continues. Lose after making changes and our real objective this season — promotion back to the Premier League — remains completely unaffected.
That’s quite a turnaround from earlier in the competition, when Nuno’s young guns beat Southampton 4-1 at a time when the Championship campaign wasn’t going particularly well.
Now West Ham are sitting top of the Championship and confidence is absolutely flying.
After the way we’ve been playing, I’d love to see us have a proper go at Fulham.
All the pressure is on them. West Ham can simply go out there and enjoy themselves.
There’s a break after Millwall so rotation probably isn’t needed, use substitutions of key players instead so as they don’t play all game. I’d start with very similar to as started v Wrexham.