{"id":214091,"date":"2025-12-28T06:33:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T06:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/214091\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T06:33:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T06:33:12","slug":"west-ham-0-1-fulham-the-hammers-defensive-woes-continue-the-position-they-must-target-in-january-and-the-star-whose-return-has-boosted-marco-silvas-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/214091\/","title":{"rendered":"West Ham 0-1 Fulham: The Hammers’ defensive woes continue, the position they must target in January – and the star whose return has boosted Marco Silva’s side"},"content":{"rendered":"

A year is a long time in football, and just 12 months after taking Nottingham Forest<\/a> to third in the table via a 1-0 victory over Tottenham<\/a>, Nuno Espirito Santo<\/a> is facing a much bleaker picture.<\/p>\n

The Portuguese coach is now in danger of a first Premier League<\/a> relegation, with West Ham five points adrift of safety after a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Fulham<\/a> following Raul Jimenez<\/a>‘s late strike.<\/p>\n

The Hammers<\/a> squandered some good chances before Harry Wilson pounced on Ollie Scarles’ error to tee up the Mexican for his second goal in two games.<\/p>\n

Nuno’s side, who have lost all six of their matches against fellow London teams this season, couldn’t muster a response – and they now face crunch fixtures against Brighton<\/a>, Wolves<\/a> and Nottingham Forest over the next 10 days.<\/p>\n

Daily Mail Sport’s WILL PICKWORTH was at the London Stadium and he has picked out some key talking points from the match.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Raul <\/p>\n

Raul Jimenez scored late as Fulham beat West Ham 1-0 at the London Stadium on Saturday<\/p>\n

\"It <\/p>\n

It was a disappointing defeat for the Hammers who remain five points adrift of safety<\/p>\n

West Ham\u2019s defensive woes go on\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Scarles missed his routine clearance, Nuno’s heart must have sunk as Wilson crossed for Jimenez to head home from yards out.<\/p>\n

It is now 15 games without a clean sheet for West Ham, with their only shut-out of the campaign coming in a 3-0 victory against Nottingham Forest when Nuno was in charge of their relegation rivals.<\/p>\n

Individual errors like the one from Scarles, who was left in tears at full-time, have continued to let the Hammers down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They have shipped 23 goals in 13 matches since Graham Potter was replaced, and Wolves are the only Premier League team with a worse defensive record this season.<\/p>\n

What will be even more infuriating for Nuno is that his side had defended much better for most of the game after conceding three goals against Aston Villa and Man City.<\/p>\n

The under-fire Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo had dealt with Jimenez until his late strike, but without clean sheets, the Hammers have no chance of staying up.<\/p>\n

\"Ollie <\/p>\n

Ollie Scarles late error meant West Ham’s run without a clean sheet stretched to 15 games<\/p>\n

Robinson return boosts Fulham\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is perhaps no coincidence that Fulham have picked up three successive wins – and two clean sheets – since Antonee Robinson returned from over two months out through injury.<\/p>\n

On form the USA left back is one of the best in his position in the Premier League – and he was a huge presence for Fulham here.<\/p>\n

Robinson was tireless up and down the left and had a big role in his side\u2019s build-up play.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was unfortunate not to grab an assist with Sasa Lukic heading wide from one teasing ball, and he caused Alphonse Areola trouble with another dangerous cross. He also largely kept both Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen quiet.<\/p>\n

Ryan Sessegnon proved to be an able deputy before his own injury, but Robinson\u2019s return is very much welcome for Marco Silva, while Jorge Cuenca also stepped up again in the absence of Calvin Bassey.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018We cannot forget how well Sessegnon did in the first three months of the season because he was very important,\u2019 Silva said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018But of course, with the injury, for Robinson to be able to play so many games in a row with all that energy on the left-hand side is impressive.<\/p>\n

\u2018I am pleased for him to be able to help the team, because last season he was so important for us, and two seasons ago it was the same.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Antonee <\/p>\n

Antonee Robinson has impressed for Fulham since returning from a period out with injury<\/p>\n

Where West Ham must strengthen in January\u00a0<\/p>\n

If West Ham are to get out of relegation trouble, reinforcements in the January transfer window will be key.\u00a0Although many Hammers fans are desperate for a new centre back, they must sign a striker too.<\/p>\n

With Callum Wilson benched for the fourth successive game and Niclas Fullkrug on his way out, the hosts lacked a focal point until the former was introduced in the second half.<\/p>\n

Time and time again they got into good positions, but they were let down by final quality or the absence of a proper centre forward.<\/p>\n

Jarrod Bowen did well running in behind, yet he does his best work coming off the right, and it is clear that Nuno doesn\u2019t quite trust Wilson.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old made an immediate difference to West Ham\u2019s attacks, occupying Fulham\u2019s defenders, thereby giving Bowen more space and they looked much more threatening.<\/p>\n

Yet Wilson is not quite the player he once was, and he was guilty of squandering two good chances. Bowen also fired wide from close range.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s disappointing,\u2019 Nuno said post-match. \u2018I felt the momentum was ours. We created situations, and I felt the goal was coming but in the end we got punished. After that there was not much time.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Callum <\/p>\n

Callum Wilson was benched for a fourth successive game and West Ham must sign a striker<\/p>\n

\"Hammers <\/p>\n

Hammers fans earlier unveiled their latest protest towards Karren Brady and David Sullivan<\/p>\n

West Ham 0-1 Fulham: MATCH FACTS\u00a0 <\/p>\n

West Ham (4-2-3-1): Areola 7; Walker-Peters 6.5, Todibo 7, Kilman 7, Scarles 6.5; Magassa 6.5 (Soucek 82), Potts 7; Paqueta 6.5 (Earthy 82), Fernandes 7, Summerville 6 (Wilson 55 6.5); Bowen \u00a9 7<\/p>\n

Subs not used: Hermansen (GK), Mavropanos, Rodriguez, Kante, Golambeckis, Mayers<\/p>\n

Manager: Nuno Espirito Santo 6<\/p>\n

Booked: Todibo<\/p>\n

Goals: None<\/p>\n

Fulham (4-2-3-1): Leno 6.5; Tete 7.5 (Castagne 82), Andersen \u00a9 7, Cuenca 7.5, Robinson 8; Lukic 7 (Diop 87), Berge 7; Wilson 7.5, Smith Rowe 6.5 (Cairney 82), Kevin 6 (King 69 6.5); Jimenez 7.5<\/p>\n

Subs not used: Lecomte (GK), Reed, Traore, Kusi-Asare,, Ridgeon<\/p>\n

Manager: Marco Silva 7.5<\/p>\n

Booked: Andersen, Wilson, King<\/p>\n

Goals: Jimenez 85<\/p>\n

Referee: Chris Kavanagh 7<\/p>\n

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Hammers fans make feelings known\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was after 15 minutes when chants of ‘sack the board’ rang around the London Stadium as Hammers supporters held up red cards that read ‘no more BS’ in their latest portrayal of discontent towards vice-chair Karren Brady and chairman David Sullivan.<\/p>\n

The protests, which have included marches, boycotts, banners and chants, show no signs of abating as supporters continue to demand for the pair to depart amid accusations of mismanagement, poor recruitment and a disconnect from the fanbase.<\/p>\n

It was heartening to see Fulham fans demonstrate support by clapping those near the away end, and while it is hard to ever see Sullivan and Brady regaining the backing of many, investment in January may buy them some goodwill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A year is a long time in football, and just 12 months after taking Nottingham Forest to third…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[539,1128,15139,61,60,111239,850,112,15141],"class_list":{"0":"post-214091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-fulham","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-marco-silva","14":"tag-sport","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-west-ham-united"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}