Fulham-West Ham United Preview

David Moyes says victory for West Ham against Fulham on Sunday would be "huge" as his side are still under pressure despite back-to-back wins.

West Ham have endured a difficult start to the season, but they beat Wolves in the Premier League last week and then Anderlecht in the Europa Conference League on Thursday.

There is positivity then heading into the Fulham game, and Moyes wants his Hammers to maintain their form.

"I think it's huge if we can continue to build that momentum," he said. "We want to try to get on a run of victories. Clean sheets are always a good place to start, and we want to build on everything we are doing at the moment. I can sense that we're a little bit better at the moment."

"The win against Wolves was important for us and then to go and win against Anderlecht. Winning away from home in Europe is never easy, so we can take real positives from that and we will try and build on that."

Moyes was then asked if the pressure was now easing.

"No, just the same," he replied. "You always have to try to win the next game in football. Those wins have been good for us after the break.

West Ham's hopes could be boosted by the absence of Fulham talisman Aleksandar Mitrovic, who is a doubt.

"He has small some small damage in his foot," said coach Marco Silva. "We are working with him, and while it is not serious, we need to get him fit."

West Ham – Gianluca Scamacca

Scamacca scored against both Wolves and Anderlecht, coming off the bench in Belgium with the game goalless. The Italy forward had started ahead of Michail Antonio against Wolves and will surely do so again now.

Fulham – Carlos Vinicius

If Mitrovic is out, Vinicius must step up in his place. He has been restricted to less than an hour of action across three substitute appearances so far this season so needs to seize any opportunity he gets.

– West Ham are unbeaten in 11 home Premier League matches against Fulham (W7 D4), winning their last four in a row. The Hammers last had a longer home top-flight winning run against Hull City between 2009 and 2016 (five in a row – ongoing).

– Fulham have kept just one clean sheet in their 21 away top-flight matches against West Ham, shipping 49 goals in those other 20 games. The only Cottagers goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet on the road in the top flight against the Hammers was Edwin van der Sar in a 2-0 win in November 2001.

– West Ham have lost more Premier League London derbies than any other side (113), while Fulham have the lowest win rate in such games (18 per cent - 26 wins from 141 games). Indeed, the Cottagers have won just one of their last 27 top-flight matches against fellow London sides (D5 L21).

– Following their 2-0 win against Wolves last time out, West Ham are looking to win consecutive Premier League games for the first time since a run of three in December and January last season. However, the Hammers have lost two of their last three Premier League games against promoted sides (W1), as many as in their previous 16.

– Fulham have alternated between victory (three) and defeat (three) in each of their last six Premier League games, losing 4-1 at home to Newcastle United last time out. The Cottagers' three wins in this run are many as they had managed in their previous 30 Premier League games combined.

Updated October 7, 2022