Fulham Match Preview

The last time that West Ham United were involved in Premier League action on a Tuesday, they suffered a 3-1 defeat away at newly-promoted Leicester City back on December 3. However, things have changed dramatically since that night and the Hammers go in search of a first victory in 2025 when they host Fulham in the first of back-to-back London derbies in Stratford tonight.

The home fans all know that new Head-Coach Graham Potter has triumphed here before and they will hope that he can take the glory once again by giving them something to cheer in his first home game in charge.

If he is unable to achieve the desired outcome tonight however, then he does have another chance when Crystal Palace arrive here on Saturday afternoon.

The Irons need to start collecting more league points and it is hoped that a good atmosphere will be the spark for them to clinch maximum points in front of the home faithful for the first time since Julen Lopetegui claimed victory over his former club Wolverhampton Wanderers back on December 9.

Wins in Stratford were a rarity in 2024 so Potter will be hoping to see his players bounce back from their early FA Cup exit four days ago and get them up and running again in the top-flight.

The hosts are aiming to try and avoid the very real possibility of Marco Silva’s men making it three games without defeat against them. They did the double over David Moyes’ team last season as well as claiming that 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage exactly four months ago.

The Hammers will also be aware that their opponents are unbeaten in their last ten London derbies.

The visitors are on a run of eight games without defeat but the home side will hope to break that momentum and turn in a better performance than the one shown in the 5-0 defeat to Liverpool sixteen days ago.

The East Londoners are currently short of attacking options, as it became clear over the last few days that both Niclas Füllkrug and Crysencio Summerville have sustained injuries. This means that Danny Ings, who coincidently scored a last-gasp equaliser against the Cottagers back on September 14 will earn a rare starting place here.

Potter did go on to reiterate in his pre-match press conference ahead of this game on Monday that Summerville’s diagnosis isn’t as bad as first feared. Füllkrug however, faces another lengthy period on the sidelines.

Luis Guilherme could be a quick fix to the club’s current striker issues and also be handed a start after appearing from the bench against the Villains.

Carlos Soler and Emerson Palmieri are back in contention to feature here.

Youngster Oliver Scarles has made a small number of top-flight substitute appearances recently and only four days after making his first start for the club, he could be handed a full Premier League debut.

One player that is unavailable to Potter however, is goalkeeper Krisztián Hegyi. Despite the Hungarian being recalled from his spell at Scottish Premiership outfit Motherwell as recently as Saturday, he has now headed for another loan spell at Debreceni VSC.

The match kicks off at the unusual time of 7:30pm and live coverage is being screened by TNT Sports from 6:30pm. The referee is Craig Pawson.