West Ham secured back-to-back results in the Premier League on Sunday with a 3-1 win against Fulham. With new signings Lucas Paqueta and Gianluca Scamacca finally getting up to speed, David Moyes’ side look to be turning a corner. The defensive stats have looked positive throughout but the attack seems to be gelling at last and combining a more potent frontline with a reliable rearguard should lead to an upturn in fortunes in east London.
Łukasz Fabiański – 6
Fabiański found himself rooted when Andreas Pereira fired past him in the fifth minute but there was so much power on the shot that there may be more credit due to the Brazilian than criticism for Fabiański. Beyond that, he was relatively untroubled and dealt well with a couple of Fulham crosses.
Thilo Kehrer – 5
Neeskens Kebano’s direct approach on Fulham’s left flank caused Kehrer huge problems throughout the first half as the winger consistently managed to spin in behind or work an extra yard of space to get a cross away. Kehrer’s performance improved in the second half when Silva swapped his wingers and Dan James was moved onto that side but he never looked secure in his 1v1 battles defensively. The German was only successful with two of his 16 pressures (12.5%) and won just one of his four aerial duels (25%). Although there was some positive moments in attack – he should’ve picked out Bowen sooner when he found himself played through just outside the six yard box – his defensive showing from right-back wasn’t up to scratch.
Craig Dawson – 7
Dawson’s return to the first team has coincided with improved results and there seems to be greater confidence in the backline from those ahead when he is on the pitch – perhaps unsurprising given the strength of his defensive performances since joining the club in 2020. His threat from set-pieces was evident once again as Pereira felt it necessary to illegally block or pull him to the ground several times before eventually conceding a penalty, and six combined tackles and interceptions (match high) signalled his continually reliable defensive work. Retaining 91% passing accuracy overall while playing seventeen long balls and progressing the ball further than anyone else is also an impressive return.
Kurt Zouma – 6
Zouma should’ve done much better on Fulham’s goal where his lack of awareness resulted in him taking up a passive position to block a cross despite there being no option in the box for Pereira to square to – this opened up the angle for a shot which should never have been available. That aside, this was a decent showing from Zouma who made eight clearances (match high) and played a central role as Fulham pushed hard for an equaliser in the last 20 minutes.
Aaron Cresswell – 7
This was a hugely impressive performance from Cresswell who dealt brilliantly with James, Kebano, and Harry Wilson while offering lots in attack. It’s rare that we get to see him overlap as much as he did in this game but with Pablo Fornals doing a successful job of pinning Bobby Decordova-Reid in a more narrow position, Cresswell was free to fly up the flank and display his quality, when given time, in the final third. He played three key passes (match high) and made a crucial goal-saving block from Tom Cairney’s shot at 2-1 in the second half.
Tomáš Souček – 6
Souček struggled in the first half as he was dragged out of position by the movement of Pereira and, with his defensive work undermined, his lack of quality in possession was all-the-more exposed. But when Rice pushed on after half-time to stop the supply coming through João Palhinha, Souček’s performance dramatically improved and his second half showing was far more positive. Strangely enough, it was in this period that the Czech midfielder displayed his capability to play progressive, and line-breaking, passes – finishing the match with five. And looking at the stats for these passes, it would seem that Souček may have turned a bit of a corner in recent weeks. Up until the Everton match, Souček had managed just one key pass and five progressive passes in total, but in the three matches that have followed the big man has managed four key passes and 15 progressive passes. Positive signs!
Declan Rice – 8
This was a leading performance from the club captain as he shifted forwards to stop Palhinha from running the match and gave Moyes’ team control for much of the second half. Rice looks to be hitting the levels we became accustomed to over the last two years and this will be crucial to anything and everything that the team can achieve this season. Seven progressive passes (match high), 11 passes to the final third (match high), eight progressive carries (joint match high), and 16 recoveries (match high) make for very positive reading and his line-breaking pass to Lucas Paquetá that led to the Brazilian’s assist for the second goal displayed exactly the kind of penetrative quality we want to see moving forward.
Jarrod Bowen – 6
Have West Ham finally found someone who can take a penalty? Apart from his goal from the spot in the first half, Bowen struggled a little as Fulham had a lot of joy down his flank but this was a positive showing in attack as he arrived in the right spaces a number of times and was unlucky not to be picked out by teammates for tap-ins on several occasions.
Lucas Paquetá – 7
Another assist for Gianluca Scamacca and a performance that contained most of the ingredients needed to be a success in Moyes’ team, Sunday’s match gave us Paquetá’s best showing so far in a West Ham shirt. The Brazilian picked up the ball all over the pitch as he assisted with build-up, helped the right sided players extricate themselves from pressure, and offered lots in the final third. His six progressive passes and two key passes were the big positives in this game but there are still improvements to be made with his defensive positioning and pressing when joining the front man to press the opposition centre-backs (17% pressure success can be improved on). And he’ll need to be a little more careful with the ball in the centre of the pitch – there were a couple of flicks that went astray which would’ve been punished by a better side.
Pablo Fornals – 6
Fornals wasn’t at his best in the first half and struggled for the few minutes he was moved into the centre after Paquetá was withdrawn but his movement and positioning to unlock space on the left flank was exemplary throughout. The Spaniard did an excellent job of timing surges inside Decordova-Reid to open up the left flank entirely for Cresswell and went about his defensive work brilliantly, as ever.
Gianluca Scamacca – 6
Our ratings for Scamacca – who just keeps scoring – may seem harsh but more than anything they should be exciting. Again, the Italian’s all-round play wasn’t quite at its best on Sunday as he failed to win any of his aerial duels and didn’t do a brilliant job of screening the midfield from Tim Ream and Tosin Adarabioyo’s line-breaking passes but his combination play is a huge positive and his movement in the box to get on the end of things is consistently fantastic. He perhaps should’ve put away another of the several good opportunities he had in this match but his lobbed finish over Bernd Leno evidenced the finishing quality he has in his locker. This is a special young player that can hit an extremely high level when he manages to knit all of the pieces together.
Michail Antonio, Emerson Palmieri, Flynn Downes – N/A
Fulham: Bernd Leno (7), Bobby Decordova-Reid (5), Tosin Adarabioyo (7), Tim Ream (7), Antonee Robinson (7), Harrison Reed (6), João Palhinha (5), Dan James (5), Andreas Pereira (7), Neeskens Kebano (8), Carlos Vinicius (5); Tom Cairney (7), Josh Onomah (3), Harry Wilson (6).
