WEST HAM’S European hopes are going up in smoke on all fronts.
The Hammers had the chance to grab sixth place in the Premier League but Andreas Pereira piled on more misery following Thursday’s 2-0 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League.
With their hopes of progressing to the last four all but over, the Premier League’s European race has taken huge significance once more.
The players knew it, but with legs sapped from midweek could not rise to the task.
Instead of taking the initiative, David Moyes’ men fluffed a huge early chance, struggled to string more than two passes together all afternoon and quickly ran out of ideas when it came to testing Fulham.
With Jarrod Bowen still missing Moyes needed his big players to step up, but star man Lucas Paqueta spent the afternoon gifting the ball to the Cottagers.
Had Fulham taken all the chances West Ham had offered up this could have been a repeat of the 5-0 hammering by the Thames in December.
Looking to lift the spirits from Thursday in quick fashion, Moyes threw caution to the wind somewhat.
The Scot went against his usual plan and started two up top as Danny Ings joined Antonio to lead the line – and they went in search of a quick start.
Paqueta was flicking the ball over Alex Iwobi’s seconds after the start, while Antonio should have fired the hosts ahead after just four minutes.
After Vladimir Coufal had forced Bernd Leno to parry the ball straight to Antonio’s feet just seven yards out, he somehow blasted high over the bar.
Mohammed Kudus and Paqueta went close in the minutes after – but soon the flicks and tricks, as well as a huge cock-up from Mavropanos, undid West Ham’s bright start.
Paqueta tried another flick in midfield, though this one was intercepted by Iwobi.
The ex-Arsenal man clipped a cross straight to Mavropanos in the box, but instead of simply clearing it the Greek defender attempted to bring it down – teeing up Pereira to round Lukasz Fabianski and undo West Ham’s promising start.
Moyes will take more heat for a job not done from frustrated fans, but when those out on the pitch are struggling to even clear or control balls there is little that anyone on the sideline can do.
Pereira could have had his second far earlier too when Fulham broke down the left but he could only send Willian’s cross wide on the stretch.
For a team which is so often criticised for being too defensive, West Ham have even struggled to get that side of their game right this season.
This was a 13th straight Premier League game without a clean sheet, with Lukasz Fabianski just as busy here as he was in Leverkusen on Thursday.
The Pole, who turns 39 on Thursday, had to stop efforts from Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Muniz, before pulling off a superb diving save to tip Iwobi’s effort around the post after more appalling defending from Mavropanos.
West Ham were only managing half chances when they managed to get forward.
James Ward-Prowse sent a hopeful low shot at Leno before heading a cross from Paqueta high and wide, while Coufal did the same with an effort at the far post.
Moyes sent on Tomas Soucek to try add some life to his flat side, but just as soon as the Czech got going Paqueta gave the ball away again.
With no one showing to pass too, the Brazilian tried to do too much on the ball and was dispossessed by Palhinha.
Fulham’s midfield maestro played in Pereira, sparking the sort of flowing move West Ham could only have dreamed of all afternoon.
Pereira found Muniz, who slipped the ball wide to Iwobi. In space he drove forwards and crossed back to Pereira, who tucked home his brace.
West Ham’s afternoon got even worse when, in the final minutes of normal time, teenager George Earthy – making his Premier League debut – suffered a sickening head injury and had to be carried off on a stretcher off and taken to hospital after being down on the ground for eight minutes.
Players and staff were visibly shaken, with Marco Silva even darting onto the pitch as soon as the youngster went down.
The 11 minutes added on played out like a training session, the already flat atmosphere completely sapped by Earthy’s injury.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
