Will the Hammers continue their slight upward trend?
Three exciting games will take place in London on Sunday. While West Ham and Fulham and Crystal Palace and Leeds face each other at 15:00, Arsenal and Liverpool will cross blades in the top match of the 10th PL matchday. The football fans in the English capital will get their money’s worth and a London team will definitely score, because the first-mentioned duel is a derby on the Thames.
Between West Ham and Fulham, lower odds are currently being given on the home side and that despite the fact that manager David Moyes’ charges are actually behind the promoted side in the table. United continue to lag behind their own standards after a messed-up start in 15th, while the Whites can certainly live very well with eighth place in the intermediate rankings.
Despite the double burden and the fact that the home side were guests in Anderlecht on Thursday evening, but still managed to land a 1-0 win there, we can understand that the “Irons” are treated as favourites against their city rivals.
In addition to a remarkably good home record against the upcoming opponents, the performances of both teams from the previous week suggest that a prediction on the host in the duel West Ham vs Fulham will come true.
West Ham – Statistics & current form
Last season, West Ham United were still among the positive phenomena at both domestic and international level. In the current season, however, the Londoners have not yet found their feet at all. Only two of the first eight league games were won by David Moyes’ team. Because five games have already been lost, the capital club is currently in a sobering 15th place in the table.
The biggest shortcoming is undoubtedly the attack, which has only managed five meagre goals so far. Only Wolverhampton Wanderers undercut this catastrophic figure. In four of the aforementioned eight PL matches, the Hammers have failed to score a goal.
Third win within eight days for WHU?
It was only last weekend that Michail Antonio and Co. scored two goals of their own for the first time this season. These were also enough for an important 2-0 win, which was an important step out of the crisis. On Thursday, WHU followed up in the Conference League with a 1-0 win in Anderlecht.
In view of these improved performances as well as the positive final results, we would rather recommend a bet on the home win before the West Ham United vs Fulham match. If you don’t want to take the risk of a three-way bet, you can still collect a solid 1.70 for the double chance 1X in combination with a maximum of three goals in the course of the match. We do not believe in a high-scoring London city derby. In all four of the Irons’ home games, the under 2.5 would have gone through, with no more than three goals scored in any of the eight WHU matches in the Premier League.
The somewhat hedged option is also our preferred betting option, because despite the presumably higher individual quality in the squad, it must not be forgotten that last year’s Europa League semi-finalists have not won two consecutive PL games since December/January 2021/22 and have also lost two of their most recent three games against promoted teams. Aguerd and Cornet will definitely be missing. Further strain-controlling or rotation-related changes of a personnel nature are not ruled out at the end of the English week.
Predicted West Ham line-up:
Fabianski – Cresswell, Zouma, Dawson, Kehrer – Soucek, Rice – Fornals, Paqueta, Bowen – Scamacca
Last matches played by West Ham:
Premier League
09/10/2022 – West Ham 3 – 1 Fulham
Europa Conference League Grp. B
06/10/2022 – RSC Anderlecht 0 – 1 West Ham
Premier League
01/10/2022 – West Ham 2 – 0 Wolverhampton
18/09/2022 – Everton 1 – 0 West Ham
Europa Conference League Grp. B
16/09/2022 – Silkeborg 2 – 3 West Ham
Fulham – Statistics & current form
Fulham Football Club’s recent Premier League adventures have all come to nothing. In both 2018/19 and 2020/21, the Cottagers were immediately relegated back to the second-tier Championship as promoted sides and recorded a total of just 12 wins in those two seasons altogether.
The Londoners have already bagged a quarter of these successes in the still young 2022/23 season. After years of struggling in the lift between the upper and lower leagues, last year’s second division champions have come to stay. Thanks to their promising start, the capital club are currently in a respectable eighth place, but they know how to assess the momentum in the table, considering they are only five points clear of the relegation zone.
Fulham can hardly compensate for the loss of Mitrovic
In order to maintain or at best even increase their cushion on the lower ranks, it certainly wouldn’t hurt Portuguese coach Marco Silva’s side to get a bit more consistency in. After two draws at the start of the season, the last six match days have seen a regular alternation of victories and defeats. If this algorithm continues on Sunday, the odds on the visitors’ three-goal win would be the right choice for West Ham vs.
However, we believe that the Whites will lose two games in a row for the first time this Premier League season. The most important argument is the poor performance at home against Newcastle a week ago, when the Silva eleven was already 3-0 down at the break and conceded goals 12 to 15. Incidentally, only Leicester (22) and Bournemouth (19) have conceded more goals than the promoted side from west London.
To make matters worse, the Lilywhites have only won one of their past 27 London derbies and have only managed to keep a clean sheet once in 21 away games at their upcoming opponents. None of the last eleven matches at the Hammers was won, which is why we would be very surprised if Silva’s team were to leave the pitch as winners on Sunday. Especially because Mitrovic, by far the most important offensive player, will be absent due to injury. The suspended Chalobah also leaves a big gap in the starting eleven. Solomon and Wilson complete the list of absentees, which could be joined by the injured Kurzawa and Robinson.
Predicted Fulham line-up:
Leno – Robinson, Ream, Adarabioyo, Tete – Palhinha, Reed – Cordova-Reid, Pereira, James – Carlos Vinicius
Last matches played by Fulham:
Premier League
09/10/2022 – West Ham 3 – 1 Fulham
01/10/2022 – Fulham 1 – 4 Newcastle
17/09/2022 – Nottingham Forest 2 – 3 Fulham
03/09/2022 – Tottenham 2 – 1 Fulham
31/08/2022 – Fulham 2 – 1 Brighton
West Ham – Fulham Direct Comparison / H2H Balance
West Ham United have only lost four of their 21 first division home games against Fulham at home. Eleven wins and six draws round off the good home record, especially as none of the Hammers’ last eleven home games against the Cottagers were lost (seven wins, four draws).
There have not been many goals between these clubs in the recent past either. In their last Premier League season together in 2020/21, WHU won 1-0 at home but had to settle for a goalless draw in the west of the capital. Only in one of the six duels since 2013 would a bet on the over 3.5 have been crowned with success.
West Ham – Fulham Tip
There is no doubt that there are other teams in the English capital that get more attention. And for good reason too, as West Ham United and Fulham share two negative records when it comes to rating London derbies. The Hammers are the London club that lost the most city duels in the first division. The Cottagers, meanwhile, have the worst win rate of all capital clubs at 18%.
Nevertheless, we are looking forward to the exciting clash on Sunday afternoon from 15:00, with WHU coach David Moyes looking to build on an impressive record. The Scot has won 13 of his 14 Premier League matches against the Whites
But because the Irons have not been consistently convincing so far this season, scoring just five meagre goals and sitting in 15th place in the standings, we have opted for a slightly lower-risk option.
