Fulham vs West Ham United preview, H2H, team news, line-ups and prediction

West Ham United will travel from East London to West London to face Fulham at Craven Cottage in their second London derby of the season on Saturday.

These two teams are currently positioned 12th and 13th in the Premier League standings with Fulham amassing four points from their first three matches while West Ham have secured just three points from three games.

Despite Fulham achieving a double over West Ham last season, the Hammers had triumphed in five of their six prior encounters.

Fulham fans might feel some disappointment over their 13th-place finish last season. While the Cottagers avoided relegation, it marked a decline from the previous year.

Marco Silva’s side began the new season with a challenging fixture against Manchester United at Old Trafford, where they lost 1-0—though the scoreline slightly flattered the hosts as Fulham fluffed numerous chances. The Cottagers recovered with a 2-1 victory over Leicester City before drawing with newly-promoted Ipswich Town before the break.

Against Ipswich, Liam Delap scored with a well-placed shot in the 15th minute, marking his first goal since joining from Manchester City. However, the impressive Adama Traore equalised for Fulham with a low drive before half-time.

Fulham’s goalkeeper, Bernd Leno made several crucial saves after the break to prevent Ipswich from securing their first top-flight win since April 2002.

Rodrigo Muniz, Emile Smith Rowe, Alex Iwobi, and Raul Jimenez all had opportunities, but Ipswich’s goal was never under consistent pressure.

The draw maintained their record of never winning more than one of their opening three Premier League matches since 2008.

Aiming for a top-half finish this season, the Cottagers should be optimistic about their recent dominance over Saturday’s visitors. Last season, they delivered a stunning 5-0 victory when West Ham visited Craven Cottage and won their two encounters with the Hammers by a combined score of 7-0.

West Ham, on the other hand, are entering a new era. David Moyes departed at the end of the last season after securing a top-half finish. The Scot, who led West Ham to European success the previous year, was succeeded by Julen Lopetegui.

This marks Lopetegui’s second stint managing a Premier League team, following his time at Wolves, but his start has been uneven. The Hammers lost their opener against Aston Villa, defeated Crystal Palace in their first London derby of the season, and headed into the international break after a loss to reigning champions Manchester City.

Erling Haaland opened the scoring early in the first half before Ruben Dias diverted the ball into his net from Jarrod Bowen’s cross to tie the game level.

The equaliser gave West Ham a new spark in the game but City regained control and went back ahead 11 minutes later. This time, the impressive Rico Lewis provided the assist, and after one touch, he unleashed a powerful strike over Areola.

Lukasz Fabianski came on for Areola at halftime, but the East London side remained composed. They almost equalised for the second time when Mohammed Kudus, set up by Bowen, saw his shot rattle off the woodwork.

City then took the game beyond reach as Matheus Nunes delivered a perfectly weighted pass to send Haaland through, and with his signature lofted strike, he secured his 11th hat-trick for the club and the 24th of his career.

The Hammers will now gear up to end a two-match losing streak against Fulham when these two sides square off on Saturday.

Fulham Vs West Ham United match details

• Date: Saturday, 14th September, 2024
• Location: London, England
• Venue: Craven Cottage
• Kick-off time: 02:00 PM UTC, 03:00 PM BST
• Referee: Tim Robinson
• Assistant referees: Timothy Wood, Steve Meredith
• Fourth official: Sunny Gill
• VAR: Paul Tierney
• Assistant VAR: Ian Hussin
• Tickets: Fulham vs West Ham tickets can be purchased through the clubs or via trusted reseller Seatsnet.com.

Match stats and head-to-head

•These two sides have met 109 times with West Ham holding the superior advantage with 51 wins against Fulham’s 24 wins while 24 of these fixtures have ended in draws.

• Fulham have recorded only one clean sheet in their last eight Premier League matches.

• There have been at least three clean sheets in the last ten fixtures between these two sides while both teams have also found the back of the net in three of the last ten matches.

• Jarrod Bowen will be looking to continue his impressive goalscoring form away from home with nine of his last 17 goals coming away from the London Stadium.

• The Hammers have scored at least one goal in their last five matches in the Premier League. The last time they failed to score was in the 5-0 loss to Chelsea in May.

• Marco Silva has set up his Fulham side to be compact this season, not conceding more than five shots on target in all their matches this season. Since conceding five shots on target against United in the opening match week, The Cottagers have faced only four shots each against Leicester and Ipswich while also facing only two on target in the EFL Cup against Birmingham City.

Team news

Against City, Julen Lopetegui handed a full Premier League debut to summer arrival, Aaron Wan-Bissaka with Vladimir Coufal dropping to the bench.

Lukasz Fabianski replaced Alphonse Areola at halftime against City and would look to stake a claim between the posts if Areola does not regain full fitness before the tie.

Aaron Cresswell remains West Ham’s longest absentee and is not expected to return for this clash.

Michael Antonio started up front against City but will face stern competition for the spot especially after Niclas Fullkrug impressed with the national team.

For Fulham, Marco Silva had a clean bill of health before the international break and will hope none of his international contingents suffered any knock during their national assignments.

Joachim Andersen could make the first Premier League start of the season.

Summer arrivals Joachim Anderson and Sander Berge will be hoping for a start against West Ham at the weekend.

Although Anderson has already featured in the Premier League this season with Crystal Palace against Brentford, the Denmark international is yet to feature for his new club since joining in the summer.

Prediction

Fulham will be looking to make it three consecutive wins against their London rivals when they meet this Saturday.

Although the draw to Ipswich could be tagged as disappointing, the Cottagers have been impressive this season and could have gotten at least a point in their opening-day loss to United.

West Ham on the other hand have not fully found rhythm, with two Premier League losses so far.

Their second-half performance against City was impressive and could have taken the lead at the restart. They’ll look to build on the performance but face the daunting task of bypassing Fulham’s compact block.

Although Fulham have kept clean sheets in the last two matches, both teams are expected to find the back of the net but overall it should be a low-scoring affair.

We’re predicting a 2-1 win for West Ham.