West Ham didn’t adjust well to Leverkusen rematch, lost London derby

West Ham failed to win the London derby in the 33rd round of the Premier League, losing 0:2 at home to Fulham. Both goals were scored by Andreas Pereira and the Hammers were not in the ideal mood for the Europa League quarter-final rematch.

West Ham started actively, in the fourth minute Vladimir Coufal’s action was stopped by Bernd Leno and Michail Antonio’s shot from the rebound was punished. The other side, on the other hand, celebrated from their first big chance, Andreas Pereira striking after a mistake by the Hammers defence.

And the Brazilian offensive midfielder could have quickly made it a two-goal game, but he punishingly missed the target from inside the whitewash in the 16th minute. At the other end, James Ward-Prowse fired from just outside the area but only hit the centre of Len’s goal.

For Fulham, Brazilian Pereira threatened for the third time, this time, like Ward-Prowse, he shot only into the middle of the goal. Coufal was also active, but in the 32nd minute he missed the ball perfectly from his first touch.

Six minutes later Fabianski had to pull up twice, first against a Willian shot, then after a corner he caught a Joao Palhinha header. The Cottagers had chances all game in the first half, Alex Iwobi narrowly missing from the edge of the box in the 45th minute.

As the Nigerian winger closed the first half, he opened the second. This time his attempt was cleared by Fabianski. In the 72nd minute, Iwobi had already brilliantly timed a centre from the right and Pereira had an easy job to strike a second time.

The Hammers didn’t look like they would be able to turn the tide after that. Mohammed Kudus’ shot went well wide. The Cottagers, on the other hand, still had a couple of chances but didn’t take advantage of them to score their third.

The Hammers remain eighth after a 0:2 defeat, two points behind the cup top seven. Fulham are eight points behind the top seven and are therefore theoretically still in the game.

Source: Canal+ Sport