After an early scare at the London Stadium, West Ham recorded a reasonably comfortable victory over Claudio Ranieri’s Fulham, who are running out of straws to clutch.
It was not entirely straightforward for the Hammers, with Fulham dominating possession at various intervals, but the Hammers, despite an inconsistent spell of form recently, found it too easy to break through their opponents’ brittle defence.
West Ham, despite their flaws, can flex their muscles when called upon
Manuel Pelligrini’s side have become potentially the most inconsistent Premier League team this season – blessed with incredibly talented players such as Felipe Anderson and Marko Arnautovic yet often flimsy in defence. They have the potential to cause seismic results at the top ends of the league but also the potential to get bowled over by a team that, logically, should be an equal match for them (highlighted by the team’s dismal 3-0 loss at Wolves a few weeks ago).
Yet they, as should be the norm with this team, absolutely have the potential to find the means to easily dispatch questions, as Fulham found out on Friday night. Perhaps it would be unfair to call it an ‘easy’ victory, yet when a team makes life as simple for you as Fulham do, West Ham demonstrated that they have the players, or indeed the simple competence, to take advantage.
Arnautovic will outgrow the frosty reception
West Ham’s best player for the majority of the season has found himself on the back of a stunning change of fortunes at the Olympic Stadium – a prolonged transfer drama involving him and a Chinese Club looked set to see him leave the club, with his decision seen to be based on money and, in the fan’s eyes, consequentially greed.
His decision then to stay at the club and sign a new contract, compounded with a bizarre video of him pledging his support to the fans, was met negatively by the supporters, who had already burned their ties and support for the player. His cameo off the bench on Friday was met with a rather frosty reception, a ‘mixed’ one if one was to be kind, but his ability on the pitch shone through. While West Ham counter-attacked Fulham for the majority of the second half, Arnautovic was at the heart of everything and his tenacious, clever cross into the box being headed home by Michael Antonio in stoppage time put the game to bed.
There has to be a forgiveness period certainly, but his ability and his unique physicality and presence in this West Ham team, make it likely that his acceptance back into the family will come sooner rather than later.
Fulham’s leaky defence costs them once more
The inclusion of Havard Nordtveit, the sole January signing in defence for Fulham, gave early optimism that this combination of centre-backs, with him alongside Tim Ream and Denis Odoi, would be the partnership that finally solidifies the team’s defence. By half-time, that optimism was completely gone though; Fulham seem to lack the ability or the collective understanding to be able to defend balls sent in with pace into their area. The goals that made it 1-1 and 2-1 to West Ham both originated from corners (the corner count, by the way, was 12-0 to West Ham) and both revealed a shocking amount of ineptitude when it came to Fulham’s ability to defend the simplest cross.
The first could potentially be deemed a mistake by goalkeeper Sergio Rico, who made up for it later with his increasingly regular excellent saves, but the second corner is a simple ball into the box which centre-back Issa Diop gleefully powered home. There are no excuses for this kind of defending, not at Premier League level, and it is damning of Ranieri, or of their summer and January recruitment, that despite it being a glaring problem all season long, it has yet to be fixed.
Ryan Babel remains Fulham’s best player, even in defeat
Babel was, and remains, a slightly perplexing transfer for Fulham and yet it is, in limited bursts, undoubtedly working. The attacking winger came into the team and immediately became one of Fulham’s most consistently dangerous players, perhaps only because he seemed to be able to deliver a ball with pace and sometimes accuracy. His early goal for Fulham on Friday night was another reminder of the impact he’s had despite an overall mixed performance: he displayed a selfishness and stubbornness on Friday that, while nowhere on the level of frustration of a player such as André Schürrle, is still a hinder to the team’s efforts.
Yet nobody else in the Fulham team really seems to have the consistency to match Babel at the moment, even an ability to be consistently average; crucial players have been missing for months now, and Claudio Ranieri has yet to find them.
Where does this leave both teams?
West Ham jump up to ninth in the table after this win and they managed to stay there after results on Saturday. Still, top-half was probably the minimum that the supporters were expecting at the beginning of the season, especially with their club’s ambitious spending, so it is reassuring to the club and to the manager that the squad are doing a decent enough job of staying on track for this target.
Fulham remain nineteenth in the table and, unlike West Ham, are not moving from their place any time soon. They remain six points above bottom and a staggering eight points from safety – a gap that could be raised to ten if Southampton win this weekend. Survival is looking like less and less of a possibility for the Cottagers, with every new defeat looking like the final straw.
If survival is traditionally achieved at around the 35 to 40 point mark, Fulham have eleven games to get around six or seven wins minimum, and even that may not be enough. It looks bleak for Fulham and Ranieri, and has done for some time – it has reached the point where the question has to be raised as to whether the club should already be planning for Championship football and the overhaul that will surely have to be done.
