Lukasz Fabianski delivers verdict on Lookman penalty after West Ham victory
West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski has opened up about what went through his mind when he faced a last-minute penalty in his side’s 1-0 win over Fulham at the weekend.
Ademola Lookman chipped his last gasp penalty towards the West Ham goal and in truth, it was a very easy save for the Hammers stopper to make.
The save secured a point for the Hammers and Fabianski spoke to West Ham’s website after the game and admitted he’s never faced a penalty of that ‘quality’.
He said, “I had not really faced this quality of Panenka! To be honest, I’ve never been in this situation before when the last kick of the game is a penalty kick, so that was different for me and you have to hold your nerve and make the right decision.
“I was lucky enough that the way he kicked the ball wasn’t the best strike but, then again, I didn’t go fully stretched and didn’t go really strong with the dive.
“I wanted to stay as long as I could, especially when they’re checking every possible thing that happens after the penalty with players running inside the box or, as a keeper, being off the line, so I didn’t want to give the referee another chance to look at the whole incident, and I managed to.”
Tomas Soucek scored the only goal of the game as the Hammers eventually overcame a struggling Fulham side with the result firing them up to 12th in the Premier League table.
After recent results against Man City and Tottenham, it was surprising that West Ham struggled to break down such a poor Fulham side.
Fulham, of course, were high on confidence after picking up their first league win of the season earlier in the week but they presented a much trickier challenge than most Hammers fans will have anticipated.
But, if West Ham are to avoid another relegation battle this season, games against teams like Fulham are the ones the Hammers have to win. It doesn’t matter if it’s 3-0 or 1-0 it is only the three points that matter.
David Moyes’ side travel to Bramall Lane after the international break and another positive would push the Hammers further up the table and we might have to start talking about a European push.
In other West Ham news, we have ranked the Hammers’ top three weirdest signing sin recent memory.