Jimenez strikes again as Fulham win at London Stadium

West Ham beaten 1-0 through late winner to lift themselves into top half

2025 ends on a high for Fulham, as Marco Silva’s men took a third straight league win this afternoon. Raul Jimenez, fresh from his penalty heroics on Monday, struck a well-placed header to extend the hosts’ winless run and put a sword in ruminations over our relegation. It might not have been the prettiest of wins - indeed, there’s plenty for the team to work on given the fixtures coming up - but the importance of getting over the line in fixtures like this can never be understated, not least against a Nuno Espirito Santo side, or perennial frustrations West Ham United.

First Half

It’s not Boxing Day, but the opening half had all the airings of a Christmas hangover. I can’t imagine many would call West Ham and Fulham exponents of the most beautiful, goal-laden football in the world - the early trappings of this game will add to this hypothesis, a slower game in which both sides struggled to turn possession into clear chances in the box. Not terrible, of course, and arguably both sides can point to many things they did right, but 0-0 was a fair reflection of the efforts of the two teams for the 45.

We’ll have to wonder what our games would look like if we had a fully-fit Raul Jimenez. He was busy to start, turning nicely in the box from a Robinson pass but ballooning his shot over, and moments later his pass produced a fierce long-range effort from Wilson that Areola had to save. The man has talent - if his body wasn’t exhausted, these early flashes might be sustained over a match and yield more goals. Certainly, he didn’t relent in his work-rate around the pitch, but with Kilman and Todibo sharpening up their intensity from the opening minutes a greater presence for a striker was needed to make an early inroad.

West Ham aren’t a flimsy side under Nuno, and their formation meant they had many spells in ascendency. Mateus Fernandes, Potts and Magassa worked very hard to shut down our passing options, scuttling many of our passing moves. With energy lashed at our backline from the front three, Fulham didn’t have the luxury of building up play as smoothly, or utilising long balls from our centre-backs to quickly refocus the ball elsewhere. Worse, Summerville, Bowen and right-back Walker-Peters (when he came forward) had the pace to run at us, particularly when their defenders had retrieved the ball.

It could - and perhaps should - have caused more issues for Leno. Walker-Peters made a run down the right, fed Paqueta and watched as Cuenca was needed to force Bowen off the ball. A flurry of corners followed, the last producing a clearance that let Todibo play a ball through our disorganised defence - Leno did well to push Bowen’s high shot away from goal. Such moments were common - West Ham had more speed in their movement and could bypass Berge, often putting them directly against our backline. To our defence’s credit, the teamwork in these moments was good; Robinson, Cuenca, Andersen and Tete held a tight line, catching West Ham’s nippy runners in a number of offside traps. The hosts will surely point to their lack of a striker, who might have held their runs or controlled the ball more sharply with defenders breathing down their backs.

Meanwhile, our performance on the ball and around the pitch was uninspired and sloppy. Our closest effort following the opening minutes came around the 30 minute mark; a rare bit of space for Andersen let him fire a shot from distance at Areola, almost catching our former keeper off guard as he kicked it clear. Beyond that, miscontrolled touches from errant crosses into the box, and Smith Rowe making dangerous runs unseen by his teammates was as good as it got. It’s harsh to focus on Kevin, because Wilson had a quiet half and Lukic and Berge weren’t exactly supplying quality balls to take us forward, but the Brazilian can’t convert his promise into results at the moment, and killed a lot of moves with rotten execution. An offside spared one hideous shot off-target - no such call relieved the pain of misplacing a pass for Smith-Rowe, on an unmarked run into the box.

Second Half

Goalless at the break then, with both sides restrained in their efforts and struggling to make a mark on proceedings. A similar message found its way out of both managers - raise the tempo of the game, and punish the mistakes of the opponent to seize an important win. Fulham took this approach first, using the formative minutes of the half to put long balls into dangerous areas; Andersen, from one, found Smith Rowe, who caught the pass well and laid it off nicely to Jimenez running alongside him - sadly the control wasn’t present in the volley accompanying the run. A little later, a Robinson pass flew diagonally across the pitch to Wilson, who benefitted from a Scarles mistouch to carry the ball into the box. A great position; yet the cross was poor, and both Kevin and Smith Rowe were denied the opportunity to put an effort at goal.

Of course, West Ham’s gameplan was already centred around capitalising on the space we leave when we take the ball forward. Their passing had already been decent, and our attacking impetus seemed to perk the ears of their forwards. From the aforementioned chance, the ball was worked quickly into Summerville, who charged at our lonesome centre-backs. His own pass to Paqueta, sprinting as part of the attack, was insipid though, and Robinson had the speed to slide ahead of the Brazilian. Another counter-attack produced similar, but again the pair flashed at the opportunity, putting poorly placed shots around the box that needed defensive blocks.

Nuno had seen enough, and removed the wasteful Summerville for an actual striker in Callum Wilson. It tweaked the hosts’ formation around, too - Mateus Fernandes moved forward to the left, Paqueta had a more central role to receive the ball more and Bowen could enjoy his preferred RW position, all with a proper piece at the front of the side. It had an instant impact, and turned the game into a precarious one for our team. Cuenca and Andersen, whilst hardly disintegrating under the pressure, found their decisions taking place under a shorter window of time, the sly fox Wilson linking play far more effectively and creating opportunities to shoot at goal.

It turned the game into a livelier affair as the two sides adjusted to the different landscape. Paqueta, liberated from running against Robinson’s speed, had the positioning to drill a shot at Leno that had to be well caught. Robinson was active at both ends of the pitch and almost had an assist with an accurate lofty ball into the box, but Lukic’s storming run to meet it miscued his header. Magassa, moving forward from midfield to put Robinson under pressure, fired a cross that Leno had to punch away, and following West Ham retrieving the ball from Kevin rather quickly turned the left-back on the edge of the box after receiving it from Potts to dart into space; Bowen will rue the sliced effort he took that turned his shot wide of the goal.

Evidently Silva was unhappy with the energy being taken to our left - whilst Robinson had handled Bowen very well, moments that Magassa, Walker-Peters and Paqueta ventured rightwards to join in were hitting us viciously. Kevin, though not ambivalent to his defensive duties, was not retaining possession effectively enough or contributing at the back with the vigour needed to alleviate the danger - King replaced him with 20 minutes to go. This gave us a player with more tactical attunement to the game - we were able to stay on the ball more, King operating more cohesively on the left for the team, and Robinson could travel forward without the flank being unbalanced as dangerously.

Granted, West Ham were still a threat in the match. Though the change made our attacks longer and more consistent, the bolts from counter-attacks still posed a threat, and with Wilson on the pitch, they had a man able to turn it into a shot. From midfield, Paqueta played a frightening ball through to Wilson, who cleverly knocked it past Cuenca - thankfully the striker dragged his shot wide. Similar happened from another break, as the Hammers snatched the ball from us and dispatched Bowen, surging through the pitch as our scrambling defence gave chase, before laying off a pass to Wilson making a rightwards run away from the congregation swarming his compatriot - again, a careless finish stopped Leno having to make a save.

Though we were on the ball for the majority of these moments, these let-offs would continue to give us nightmares with the score at 0-0. West Ham had defended well in the box, Areola rarely being tested directly and Kilman and Todibo putting themselves between anything we’d managed to work into a shooting area, which sucked away the threat of many of the balls we’d guided into the danger zone. Once again though the substitutions proved important in pushing us closer to a positive result. Captain Cairney returned again to add the extra composure in possession, arriving with Castagne from the bench - with Cairney pulling the strings from deep and Castagne joining Robinson as full-backs with serious license to operate in the final third, this helped pin West Ham in even further.

Conversely, West Ham removed Magassa, who’d been quite effective around the pitch, and Paqueta, a critical creative piece launching West Ham counter-attacks, for Soucek and Earthy. Understandable if the hosts were winning by a few goals - the wrong move in this game, however. It removed the hosts’ ability to riposte our mounting pressure on their box - and with greater pressure, mistakes are more likely.

Scarles had survived a few errors earlier in the game, aided somewhat by a disappointing game for Harry Wilson. Our defenders had spotted his vulnerability though, and long balls had made their way to Wilson against him repeatedly. The Welshman’s first cross was soft and cleared by Fernandes’ defensive header - but in place of a solid clearance, Scarles took an unwieldy swipe at the ball and swung his foot through air. A player like Wilson needs no invitation to repair their mistake, especially in his form - he guided his second cross delightfully over the defenders, into the path of Jimenez, who headed the ball downward, away from Areola, and into the corner of the net. A brilliant moment for Fulham, one that put a bullet in the hosts’ aspirations for the game, and the sight of Diop entering to shore up the closing minutes would have compounded the frustration for West Ham, all the way to the final whistle.

A Raul of Wins

1-0 to Fulham - not bad, is it? There’s an argument that will be made about the game, and this winning run at large, that centres on the fact the team are needing good fortune in the box to win marginal scorelines against relegation-threatened sides. It’s not completely wrong - our attack, weakened for various reasons, has benefitted from facing some of the weaker teams in the division in recent matches. But it loses a vital component of the areas of strength the team has right now - the brilliant defending seen around the backline with Cuenca in the line-up.

I don’t think Bassey is a poor player - certainly Nigeria will be better for having him over their AFCON campaign! Cuenca, however, has added a stability and composure to the back that was missing for months with Bassey. Perhaps the fact he can’t rely on stupendous physical attributes to bail him out of danger makes him more attuned to the positions and situations around him - his timing today was largely excellent, and whilst Bassey had shaken off much of the worst form from earlier in the season he and Andersen did another great job in marshalling the area around the box. Wilson, transformative as he was for West Ham’s football, didn’t manage to take a shot from the centre of the goal, instead being forced wide - it was no accident!

Robinson returning is also a huge victory for the team. It’s curious that Sess got injured right as Antonee was ready to play again, but it’s a very happy coincidence - the American was very effective today, supplying numerous deliveries for teammates in the box but more importantly matching the speed of Bowen and others on the flank to avoid being swamped on our left. He and Cuenca looked quite good on the ball too - such possession is critical in tighter games, as it takes time out of the game for West Ham to find an equaliser. Lukic needed to be a little snappier on the ball, but he got himself into some good attacking positions in the manner Iwobi does and improved in the second half. I was torn on Berge - I did feel he wasn’t quite as effective as some of the matches he’s played this season, and his passing in the first half was frustrating to watch, but he’s an important piece in our defence, and as Potts wilted and Magassa got withdrawn his presence once again shone through.

As for the forwards, it’s a mixed bag. Raul Jimenez can once again take the accolades for a successful winner - he had “downtime” across the game where he didn’t see the ball for a time, but the periods he activated himself for were important parts of the game, and his goals have proven crucial in many of the games he’s scored them in. Of course, the counter is that said “downtime” isn’t sustainable over a full Premier League season, and the sterner opponents we have coming up will take advantage of it. Smith-Rowe played very well, dynamic and industrious on the ball throughout, and really deserves more praise for the work he’s done to get himself back into fitness and form for the team.

The wingers were less impressive today; Wilson has another assist but didn’t play with the sharpest feet for much of the game. A more confident left-back than Scarles, and his opportunity to supply the winning cross disappears. And Kevin… it’s frustrating, because there are many moments that his pace destroys defenders, and he has demonstrated that he can put the menacing balls into the box, but there are far too many errors in his game right now, and when King arrived he and Robinson did more to use the left wing to Fulham’s advantage. He needs time, of course, but with Chukwueze overseas and King injured the spotlight demands him now. Here’s hoping the games against some top-half sides will prove a fitting stage.

Crisis at West Ham?

We’ll also not have many worse sides than West Ham to play this season. I like Nuno and still think he’ll guide West Ham closer to safety than where they are now, but the team don’t have a lot of confidence at the moment and it’s rapidly sinking their league campaign. Scarles is the scapegoat today and the weak link in the backline but mistakes like this are likelier when young players are thrown into the relegation battle of a despondent team. It plagues the whole team - their backline was competent but couldn’t abate the rising danger over the game, and ended up buckling by the end.

Nuno made good attacking changes but they didn’t produce a goal, which meant that when the attacks dried up the weakened midfield couldn’t disrupt Fulham’s passing. Potts started strongly but had too much to do by the end of the match, with Fernandes in a new position, Magassa taken off and many, many miles run into his legs. On the topic of these attacks, the team need their pieces to fire collectively - between Summerville’s pace, Bowen’s directness, Wilson’s intelligence and Paqueta’s creativity there’s a competent attack to sculpt, but they never fire collectively and the result can often be a mess. Leno should have had more to do; the few times they actually managed to put a shot on target the German was alert. It meant they had no goals to show for their genuinely decent football on the ball, and were susceptible when Fulham’s goal was scored. Truly, the year has been a dismal one for the club.

It matters not to us - Fulham are the victors, and can put to rest the most serious fears of being sucked into a relegation battle for now, certainly to the same level as the other teams around mid-table, We have to give Marco Silva credit - we’ve faced several hardships out of our control over the season, including the ongoing injury problems and AFCON, but the team are pulling results together and rediscovering their form. Whatever you say about 2025, you can’t fault the effort Silva puts into making the club as good as it can be - he wants to win with us, and the work he’s done to get us to this moment, an established top-flight side putting together winning runs over the tricky Christmas season, shouldn’t be taken for granted.