And with that, I’m gone. It’s been a blast. Bye!
Here’s Claudio Ranieri:
It’s unbelievable. We started very well with great chances. They were very dangerous on the corners, it’s normal with the tall players. The referee didn’t see the first goal was handball, and after West Ham moved the ball very quickly. I don’t know if we were very scared. Second half was much better, we were in control of the ball but without doing something good.
On his side’s defensive issues:
Look, we are always speaking about to cover well to be concentrated and with determination. But also we need some luck. It’s unbelievable, what happened this year. But we never give up, never. It’s important to recover soon – physically, but also psychologically.
Here’s a report on tonight’s other Premier League game:
Gerard Deulofeu finally fulfilled his true potential with a dazzling hat-trick to inspire Watford to a 5-1 thumping of Cardiff City. The pitch was the playground of the former Barcelona prodigy as he netted a first-half strike followed up by a pair of calm finishes, and he even found time to set up Troy Deeney to put the final nail in the coffin. Sol Bamba grabbed a consolation from close range with 10 minutes to go, but Deeney had the last laugh as he completed a close-range double.
Much more here:
Here’s Ryan Babel’s take:
I feel like every time we start [the game] very exciting, everybody’s hungry, and then I feel like we give away very cheap goals. And that kind of breaks our spirit very quick and very easy. Not only today, also the games since I’ve been here. It might be we don’t deserve to concede them but we concede them for a reason and we need to change that as soon as possible.
Here’s Nick Miller’s match report from the London Stadium:
Fulham have only themselves to blame for their season as a whole, confused decision making and erratic management in all likelihood sending them straight back to the Championship. But on this one occasion they can feel genuinely aggrieved that their fate was unfairly decided by someone else.
The Cottagers were a goal ahead and things were looking promising against West Ham, when Javier Hernández punched home a goal and changed the course of this game, which ended in a 3-1 defeat for Claudio Ranieri’s side.
Much more here:
Declan Rice is named man of the match, and Noble hands the award over. “It’s every week, this,” he says as he does so. Gary Neville, who insists that Rice’s long-term future is at centre-half, asks the player what he thinks: “I think the way I’ve been playing this season, I’m really enjoying midfield,” he says. “That’s where I see my future.”
9 - Fulham’s nine London derby league defeats in a row is the longest ever such losing run in Football League history by any London side. Punishment. pic.twitter.com/UiYdeNW4rc
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 22, 2019
Mark Noble has a chat:
To be honest we started terribly. They should have scored three goals in the first 10 minutes. I thought as soon as they scored we took control of the game. We’ve seen the [first] goal, it’s probably handball, but sometimes you get the rub of the green and we got that today. I thought after that we dominated the game. We’ve had great form here in the last couple of months, and tonight was another great win for us. Especially against the bigger teams we’ve been really good here.
Final score: West Ham 3-1 Fulham
90+4 mins: It’s all over! Another blow for Fulham as they continue to search for a straw to clutch, and a final score that slightly flatters West Ham.
Updated
90+3 mins: Troy Deeney scores Watford’s fifth in Cardiff. Deulofeu is not involved, probably because he’s been substituted.
90+2 mins: Two minutes of stoppage time were announced, which might be bumped up to three because of the goal.
GOAL! West Ham 3-1 Fulham (Antonio, 90+1 mins)
A few seconds into stoppage time West Ham make the game safe! Arnautovic sets up Lanzini again but this time his shot is blocked. It rolls back to Arnautovic, who dinks a cross into the middle of the area, and Antonio heads with more precision than power, in off the post!
Updated
89 mins: Arnautovic hits the bar! West Ham have finally woken up and started toying with their desperate opponents. They pass the ball around and through Fulham’s area for an age before Arnautovic hammers a shot towards the near corner from the right side of the box, and Rico fingertips it onto the woodwork!
Updated
87 mins: Now Arnautovic tees up Lanzini on the edge of the area, but again the Argentinian can’t get a shot away! The ball is half-cleared and Declan Rice has a pop, but skews his shot well wide from 20 yards or so.
86 mins: West Ham have another corner, and win a couple of headers before Rico catches the ball. They’re 11-0 up on the corner count now.
84 mins: Nearly a chance for Fulham: Cairney passes to Mitrovic in the area, who spins but is in a thicket of defenders when he finally attempts a shot, which hits one of them and squirms to Fabianski.
83 mins: Cardiff have a consolation against Watford, Bamba volleying over the line from a couple of yards with his left foot after a corner leads to a goalmouth scramble.
81 mins: Fulham continue to dominate possession, though none of it is happening in areas that will particularly worry West Ham.
78 mins: Save! West Ham attack, and Snodgrass tees up Lanzini for a fairytale comeback goal but he puzzlingly decides not to shoot when in loads of space on the edge of the area and instead passes back to Snodgrass. This time he chips a cross to Arnautovic at the far post, whose header is punched away by Rico!
76 mins: Manuel Lanzini is back! And Felipe Anderson is off.
75 mins: Watford score a fourth! This time Deulofeu claims a superb assist to present Troy Deeney with a tap-in!
74 mins: Good Watford-related stat, this one:
Gerard Deulofeu is the first #Watfordfc player to score a top-flight hat-trick since Mark Falco in October 1986 vs Aston Villa and the first to score one away from home in the top-flight since Mo Johnston in December 1983 vs Wolves.
— Matt Furniss (@Matt_Furniss) February 22, 2019
72 mins: Fulham have looked pretty comfortable in the last 10 minutes or so, and currently appear the more dangerous side. Albeit without being very dangerous.
70 mins: As it stands both Watford and West Ham are going to move up a place in the Premier League table, the Hornets vaulting Wolves into seventh and the Hammers pipping Everton to take ninth. Wolves have played 26 matches, while the others involved in the sixth-to-10th tussle will (come the final whistle) have completed 27.
67 mins: Fulham come close! Cairney slides a fine pass into Mitrovic, who runs into the area and is poised to shoot, but Fredericks bursts through him to prod the ball away.
Updated
66 mins: “That tactic has always seemed rather boorish to me,” writes Gabriel Piller about the Mexican’s habit of standing on Rico’s toes at corners, as Arnautovic is played through but caught offside. “What do you think of a rule of an arm’s worth of distance in for one of the keeper until the cross is taken? Do you think that would work?” Surely blocking the goalkeeper is deliberate obstruction and should result in a defensive free kick?
64 mins: Deulofeu has completed his hat-trick in Cardiff, neatly chipping the keeper after being played through again, after Arter gave the ball away to Capoue in the centre circle. It’s now Cardiff 0-3 Watford.
Updated
63 mins: West Ham bring on Arnautovic, taking off Cheatcharito.
Updated
62 mins: Watford have taken a two-goal lead in Cardiff, Deulofeu scoring again on the break, the Spaniard astonishingly failing to foul up a one-on-one, though his effort was very nearly cleared off the line.
58 mins: “Could a retroactive red card be given to Javier Hernandez for deliberate handball in the box, since neither the referee or his assistant saw the blatant foul?” wonders Bob Zoellner. Presumably like other fouls if the referee did not see it and does not include it in his report, retrospective action is possible if it is considered red-card-worthy.
@Simon_Burnton Why not ask the player if he scored with his hand, if he dived, if he was elbowed, etc. No need for VAR. Just treat the players as adults. #WHUFC
— On A Sixpence (@onasixpence) February 22, 2019
56 mins: Fabianski makes a save! Mitrovic does brilliantly to control and hang onto a high ball when outnumbered and plays it infield to Babel, whose first-time drive stings the keeper’s palms, but stays in them.
54 mins: Fulham enjoy a couple of minutes of pressure, which ends when Markovic handles just outside the West Ham area.
51 mins: West Ham win their first corner of the second half. Hernandez is positioning himself on Rico’s toes every time they get one, and Rico is shoving him forcefully in the back as the kick is taken, freeing himself to rush out and hopelessly flap at the ball. He could in this way have conceded at least three penalties so far.
49 mins: A surprisingly calm start to the second half. West Ham are hogging possession, but don’t seem inclined to actually get into Fulham’s penalty area.
46 mins: They’re off! West Ham have also made a change, bringing Fredricks on for Zabaleta.
The players are coming back out. Fulham are making a double substitution: Anguissa and Markovic come on, and Sessegnon and Seri come off.
It’s also half time in Cardiff, where Watford lead 1-0. Cardiff should have had a penalty after Janmaat fouled Josh Murphy in the box three minutes from the break, but didn’t get one.
Half time: West Ham 2-1 Fulham
45+3 mins: That’s the end of an often scrappy but nevertheless memorable first half. Fulham have been utterly abject for at least half an hour, but the way West Ham scored their equaliser means they can still consider themselves unfortunate to be trailing. I’ll be back in 10 minutes.
45+1 mins: There’ll be a couple of minutes of stoppage time. They start with yet another attacking set-piece for West Ham, unconvincingly cleared.
44 mins: I think Fulham might have a cunning strategy to wear out West Ham’s defenders by making them constantly come forward for set pieces. West Ham have had eight corners now, plus a smattering of free-kicks.
42 mins: Nearly a third! Cresswell crosses well from the left flank, and Bryan clears ahead of a West Ham player preparing for a tap-in. Antonio comes close from the latest corner.
GOAL! West Ham 2-1 Fulham (Diop, 40 mins)
Another corner, and another goal! There’s no quibbling about this one: a good delivery, a good run, a good leap and a good header at the near post!
Updated
39 mins: Cheatcharito has the gumption to hit the ball into Nordveit’s arm and demand a handball decision.
37 mins: Going back to the West Ham goal, the cheatery will handily deflect attention from Sergio Rico’s utterly useless attempt to flap clear. Had he done his job decently, the rest of it would never have happened.
@Simon_Burnton If only there was some way to reconsider the goal. Some way to review the actions leading up to it. If only humanity had developed such a technology that could record and replay live action.
— Wally Leary (@WallyLeary) February 22, 2019
35 mins: The ball falls to Cheatcharito again, just inside the area this time, and he sidefoots a shot across goal and narrowly wide.
33 mins: The referee couldn’t really be expected to see that, given his position, and his assistant was on the wrong side of the pitch to do so. I don’t think you can blame anyone for that except Cheatcharito.
31 mins: That is absolute pure cheatery, no doubt about it. Hernandez fell over in the process of arming the ball over the line and stayed down long enough that he didn’t have to look anyone in the eye as he got to his feet.
GOAL! West Ham 1-1 Fulham (Hernandez, 29 mins)
West Ham win another corner corner, their fifth. Rico comes out to punch clear but makes a massive hash of it, Antonio heads it back in, it flicks off Ogbonna and Hernandez turns it in with a combination of head and left arm at the far post!
Updated
26 mins: “The standard of midweek Champion League games always brings mid-table Premier League games into sharp relief,” notes Paul Fitzgerald, as Antonio spears in another decent cross. This is certainly no classic, though Fulham will be delighted to be referred to as mid-table.
23 mins: Antonio’s low cross is awkwardly pushed away to the edge of the area, where Zabaleta runs onto it. His shot is deflected wide off Serri.
22 mins: Zabaleta goes down under Mitrovic’s perfectly fair challenge, and receives a textbook dismissive get-up gesture in return.
19 mins: Meanwhile in Cardiff, Gerard Deulofeu has given Watford the lead. It’s 0-1 there.
18 mins: Now Bryan, fouled by Antonio a couple of minutes ago, fouls Antonio. The wild momentum with which the game began has been quietened a bit because the referee keeps blowing his whistle.
Updated
16 mins: Snodgrass chips a nice ball down the left flank for Felipe Anderson to run onto. Odoi however runs onto it quicker, and when the Brazilian pushes him out of the way wins a free kick.
14 mins: Babel just executed one of the most dismal headers you’re ever likely to see in a game of professional football, accidentally nodding a just-cleared ball back into his own area. The defence clears again.
12 mins: It is, I’m told, precisely 3,000 days since Babel’s last Premier League goal, scored in December 2010.
11 mins: West Ham continue to press. Cresswell’s cross deflects behind, and it’s another corner. Babel heads this one away.
8 mins: From the corner, West Ham win another corner. And from that corner, Diop heads six inches wide of the post, with Antonio sliding in but fractionally too late to turn it in!
Updated
7 mins: West Ham have an attack, which ends with Hernandez being played in on the right side of Fulham’s penalty area, and his cross-shot being cleared for a corner.
6 mins: A wild opening to the game, which is being played at great pace and with greater imprecision.
4 mins: Zabaleta also plays a part in this, losing Sessegnon on Fulham’s left flank. Sessegnon immediately plays a low, hard cross into the six-yard box, and Babel turns it in!
GOAL! West Ham 0-1 Fulham (Babel, 3 mins)
And he makes amends within seconds!
Updated
1 min: Incredible miss! Zabaleta’s hopeless backpass releases Ryan Babel, who advances on the keeper, does a stepover or two and then passes the ball into his face!
1 min: And they’re off! Mitrovic has the first kick, and Fulham promptly bosh the ball out of play on the left touchline.
The players are out of the tunnel!
The players are in the tunnel!
Manuel Pellegrini has a chat, firstly about the impact of the two-week football-free break which ends tonight:
There are positive things and negative. We tried to continue in the FA Cup but we couldn’t, so we could not play last week. On the other side I think we recovered seven or eight players who are playing all the games. I think Fulham have a very good team, they brought good players. The other games maybe they couldn’t win but they always create several options before they concede the first goal, so we have to play well if we want to win.
On picking Hernandez over Arnautovic:
He’s not under pressure. All the strikers want to score, but not because Marko is not playing. Marko has just arrived from some issues he had last month. Maybe they can work both of them together. Tonight we start with Javier but we have options.
And on West Ham’s targets for the remainder of the season:
First to win this game. After that we must try to win the next game. We don’t really have a target. That will be linked with the way we play every game.
Here’s Claudio Ranieri on his team selection:
We had to do something to try to win. We know it’s difficult. They have some good players. We have to score and I think with Sessegnon and Cairney we have good potential to score. We know we are in trouble, but we are positive. When I saw my players in training sessions, they are working so hard. The intention is good and we have to continue to try.
It’s difficult but my players are strong. they want to fight, to survive. A win is very important for us. We have to continue, we have to think in a positive way, and I hope we can win.
Schurrle has a virus, he says.
So West Ham bring Zabaleta in for Fredericks, and Fulham make a trio of switches: Havard Nordveit makes his debut in defence against his former club, while Tom Cairney and Ryan Sessegnon are parachuted into midfield.
Also:
Cardiff: Etheridge, Ecuele Manga, Morrison, Bamba, Bennett, Arter, Paterson, Bacuna, Ralls, Josh Murphy, Niasse. Subs: Zohore, Smithies, Reid, Gunnarsson, Cunningham, Mendez-Laing, Hoilett.
Watford: Foster, Janmaat, Mariappa, Cathcart, Masina, Doucoure, Capoue, Hughes, Pereyra, Deulofeu, Deeney. Subs: Gomes, Britos, Cleverley, Sema, Gray, Quina, Navarro.
Referee: Roger East.
#CARWAT | #CardiffCity team news!
— Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) February 22, 2019
The skipper's back!
Brought to you by @1xbet_Eng...#CityAsOne pic.twitter.com/YEjLdOSk5W
🚨 TEAM NEWS 🚨
— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) February 22, 2019
2⃣ changes from the side which started our last @premierleague game with Everton.
➡ Masina, Pereyra
⬅ Holebas (suspended), Sema#CARWAT #watfordfc pic.twitter.com/iOZCoSxqdA
The teams
The team news has landed, and this is it:
West Ham: Fabianski, Zabaleta, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Noble, Rice, Snodgrass, Antonio, Hernandez, Felipe Anderson. Subs: Arnautovic, Carroll, Lanzini, Adrian, Obiang, Nasri, Fredericks.
Fulham: Sergio Rico, Odoi, Nordtveit, Ream, Bryan, Chambers, Seri, Babel, Cairney, Ryan Sessegnon, Mitrovic. Subs: Ayite, Vietto, Le Marchand, Christie, Zambo, Markovic, Ramirez.
Referee: Lee Mason
Our 💎 is back!@manulanzini 👊#WHUFUL pic.twitter.com/9uoN7ey4wU
— West Ham United (@WestHamUtd) February 22, 2019
TEAM NEWS! 🚨
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) February 22, 2019
Here's our starting XI to face @WestHamUtd! 👊 #WHUFUL #COYW pic.twitter.com/4uQrZjFBhk
A couple of months ago West Ham went to Craven Cottage and won their fourth Premier League match in a row, Felipe Anderson inspiring a 2-0 victory. The Hammers had six shots to Fulham’s 16, three on target to their opponents’ four, but they popped two in the onion bag and that’s all that counts.
West Ham’s form is much less impressive now, with the last couple of months featuring one win in seven league games and FA Cup elimination at League One Wimbledon. Fulham have won two of their last seven in the league, but they were both at home (to Huddersfield and Brighton) and the latter is the only game played in 2019 that they haven’t lost, a list that also includes the visit of League Two Oldham in the Cup.
So this represents a chance for both teams to get the ball of form and fortune rolling once again (or for the first time, in Fulham’s case). West Ham will go ninth if they win, and though recent results have been poor from tonight they play four of the bottom five (and Manchester City) in five games. With Manuel Lanzini in the squad for the first time this season after knee injury, there is plenty of cause for optimism. But they’ve got to put Fulham away first.
All that and also the occasional update from Cardiff, where Watford visit. Welcome! Let’s hope for fun times.
