Fulham put in another five-star display to thump West Ham

Posted Monday, December 11, 2023 by PA

Fulham hit five goals for the second time in a week as they thrashed West Ham at Craven Cottage to move into the top half of the Premier League.

The floodgates have certainly opened for the Whites in recent weeks, with David Moyes’ men the latest side to be put to the sword as five different scorers struck in a fine 5-0 home win – just four days after Fulham beat Nottingham Forest by the same scoreline.

Raul Jimenez opened the scoring to take his personal tally to four in five games having previously not scored a Premier League goal since March 2022, when he was a Wolves player.

Willian and Tosin Adarabioyo goals then had the hosts coasting at the break before a fine effort from substitute Harry Wilson and late effort from Carlos Vinicius added the gloss.

Jimenez’s upturn in form has dovetailed nicely with Fulham’s as a whole – in their previous three outings heading into this London derby they had scored three to beat Wolves, three in a losing effort at Liverpool and five to down Forest in midweek.

A rasping free-kick from James Ward-Prowse had Bernd Leno diving across his goal to make an early save, but that would be as good as it got for West Ham.

It was Fulham who missed the first gilt-edged chance of the afternoon, Jimenez picking out Willian with a perfectly-weighted ball over the top of the West Ham defence only for the forward to shoot tamely at Lukasz Fabianski.

With the hosts enjoying more of the ball, they took the lead as Jimenez’s fine run of form in front of goal continued as he crashed home a header from Joao Palhinha’s cross to the back post.

The lead was doubled just after the half-hour as Willian curled home into the far corner after possession had been recycled following Fabianski’s save from an Alex Iwobi strike.

Bowen passed up a decent opportunity to get West Ham on the board as he shot straight at Leno when picked out in space in front of goal.

The visitors were struggling at both ends as an Iwobi half-volley deflected off Aaron Cresswell to flash wide of the post only for Adarabioyo to rise high and steer the resulting corner past Fabianski to extend Fulham’s advantage.

There could have been another before the interval but Fabianksi’s outstretched leg prevented Iwobi’s cross from reaching its target.

While Willian was forced off injured at half-time, replaced by Wilson, Moyes made two alterations to his West Ham side as he introduced Emerson and Konstantinos Mavropanos.

Wilson should have scored 10 minutes after the restart as a slick move ended with the midfielder inside the box but unable to guide his effort beyond Fabianski.

He more than made amends as he hit the fourth goal on the hour, curling a superb 20-yard strike beyond the reach of Fabianski to send Craven Cottage into raptures.

Moyes made further changes, more likely to rest the weary legs of the likes of Mohammed Kudus and Kurt Zouma, and they did dominate possession in the latter part of the game but still managed to ship another late goal.

Harrison Reed, whose own goal settled the corresponding fixture in favour of the visitors last season, picked out Wilson with a raking pass forward and the Wales international showed an unselfish touch to square for Vinicius to complete the rout with a tap-in.