Whenever West Ham and Fulham meet, tensions run high, especially so in this game as a controversial VAR incident helped condemn Fulham to a 3-1 defeat away to West Ham United.
Many may not consider this to be one of the more glamorous London derbies, but try telling that to the 60,000-plus fans in attendance at the London Stadium this afternoon. There’s so much history in this fixture, but perhaps no tie will ever match the magnitude of the 1975 FA Cup final when West Ham legend Bobby Moore led The Cottagers out against his beloved Irons.
There may have been conflicting emotions that day, but there was no such feeling today. While not the most crucial game in the fixture’s history, there was still plenty riding on this one for both sides. West Ham were eager to show that last week's 2-0 win over the now managerless Wolves was no false dawn, while Fulham needed to bounce back from a 4-1 thumping at home to Newcastle last time out.
And that’s exactly what Fulham did. They flew out the block early and took the lead after just four minutes. Neeskens Kebano did some brilliant work in the build-up and set the tone for a first half in which he terrorised Thilo Kehrer down the left-hand side. When his smart pass found Andreas Pereira, the Brazilian rifled a left-footed shot into the roof of the net for his first goal since joining from Manchester United this summer.
Lukasz Fabianski will be disappointed to have been beaten from such a tight angle, but he was delighted minutes later when Dan James’ powerful left-footed drive crashed against the crossbar. It was a stunning hit from the former Leeds man who, along with Kebano, was a bundle of energy and epitomised Fulham’s energetic first half performance.
The Irons on the other hand were suffering from a classic case of Europa League hangover. Their midweek excursions in Belgium had David Moyes’ men looking lethargic and devoid of energy.
At least that’s how the first 20 minutes panned out. For the remainder of the first half, West Ham improved and started to resemble their old selves with Pablo Fornals and Aaron Cresswell combining numerous times to good effect.
And if Gianluca Scamacca had have had his shooting boots on in the first half, the Hammers could have been out of sight. Twice, the big Italian drew superb saves from Bernd Leno with headers and on at least one occasion he should have found the back of the net. The former Sassuolo man seemed to be impersonating Darwin Nunez at times, preferring to go for brute force rather than placement.
The equalising goal did come before the half hour mark and West Ham had Andreas Pereira to thank for it. The Fulham goalscorer turned West Ham assister when he dragged craig Dawson down in the box.
The referee pointed to the spot, Jarrod Bowen sent the keeper the wrong way and West Ham were back on level terms. Fulham continued to look dangerous on the counter attack but no more goals came in the first 45.
After the break, West Ham started on the front foot when Lucas Paqueta nearly found the bottom corner with a curling left-footed effort. But Fulham once again got back on top and bossed proceedings for the first 15 minutes after half-time. The away side dominated possession and struggled to create many openings, and when they did, Kurt Zouma was in place to snuff out the danger.
And then all hell broke loose. Declan Rice who’d been quiet all afternoon, fired one into Paqueta on the edge of the box. The Brazilian found Scamacca with a deft touch before the Italian dinked Leno with absolute contempt.
Immediately, something felt off about the goal. West Ham’s number seven had so much time and space it seemed as though some foul must have been committed. After a lengthy VAR check (5 minutes plus) the goal was given despite the appearance of an offside and a handball.
Understandably, Fulham were irate with manager Marco Silva receiving a yellow card for his protests. The long delay affected the flow of the game, and Fulham struggled to create chances.
One last throw of the dice in the form of Shane Duffy going up front for Fulham was to no avail, while Michail Antonio put the icing on the cake after a horrendous mix-up between Tim Ream and Leno.
Two wins on the bounce now for West Ham has them finally moving in the right direction, while a couple of heavy defeats has Fulham all of a sudden looking over their shoulder at the chasing pack behind.
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