Dean White

Thu 5 November 2020 14:40, UK

West Ham face Fulham at the London Stadium on Saturday in their final match before the international break.

David Moyes’ side have not won in their last three league fixtures but it’s fair to say that statistic doesn’t paint the entire picture with the Hammers doing way more than what has been expected of them so far this season.

West Ham’s opening seven fixtures could not have been much harder with games against Arsenal, Wolves, Leicester, Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool all completed.

Out of those six games, the Irons won twice, drew twice and lost twice.

Fulham should be the easiest game for the Hammers so far this season but Scott Parker’s side are on a high after their important 2-0 win against West Brom on Monday night.

Here, West Ham Zone has analysed the Cottagers and highlighted ways in which Moyes’ men can exploit the West London side.

Set-pieces and penalties:

Fulham have conceded 14 goals in their opening seven Premier League fixtures – only Liverpool [15] and West Brom [16] have conceded more.

While the bulk of those goals were conceded in open play, 22 per cent of them were from set-pieces and 14 per cent of them from penalties [WhoScored].

There have been a lot of penalties so far this season. Whether that’s down to VAR, an increased pace in attacking play, a change in rules or there being no fans in stadiums, we’re still yet to figure it out.

But Fulham are conceding a lot of fouls – ranking fourth in the Premier League so far this season – and therefore handing opposition sides more chances to score.

Michail Antonio is unavailable against Fulham this weekend but the West Ham forward ranks ninth in the Premier League for the number of times he’s been fouled [17].

Jarrod Bowen is next in the Hammers squad with nine fouls won but this is definitely something Moyes can look to exploit at the weekend by playing his fast, technically gifted players.

Could someone like Said Benrahma help do that?

Attack from all angles

When you look at the types of goals that West Ham have scored, it’s clear that Moyes has managed to get his side firing on all cylinders.

While most goals have come from open play, as you’d expect, 23 per cent of West Ham’s 13 Premier League goals this season have come from set-pieces.

This shows that exploiting Fulham’s ability to concede fouls could come in handy.

It also shows that West Ham could make the most of corner kicks against Fulham.

It’s a shame that Antonio won’t be playing against Fulham because it’s becoming more and more clear that he would have been an important weapon against the Craven Cottage club.

But, as mentioned, the Irons are able to attack from different angles and we would expect them to be able to get all three points against Fulham this weekend.

In other West Ham news, Brexit might hurt West Ham’s chances of signing Frederick Alves Ibsen.