West Ham welcome Fulham to the London Stadium in a cross-London derby clash.
Victory could see West Ham go as high as 11th depending on the size of winning margin and results elsewhere.
Fulham can go seventh with a win until Sunday evening because Manchester United aren’t in action until mid-evening.
Team News
West Ham have no fresh injury concerns to report from Thursday’s Europa Conference League win at Anderlecht.
Maxwel Cornet (calf) and Nayef Aguerd (ankle) both remain ruled out.
Fulham will be without Nathaniel Chalobah as he begins a three-match suspension, following his red card against Newcastle last weekend.
Antonee Robinson (ankle), Aleksandar Mitrovic (foot), Willian (calf) and Kenny Tete (fitness) are doubts but Joao Palhinha returns from suspension.
Layvin Kurzawa (calf) is ruled out whilst Harry Wilson and Manor Solomon (both knee) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- West Ham have claimed 13 points from their last six league meetings against Fulham (W4, D1, L1).
- Fulham are winless in their last 10 away matches against West Ham (D3, L7).
- David Moyes’ Hammers have kept clean sheets in three of their last four clashes against Fulham, only failing to do so in a 3-1 home win in February 2019.
- Three of West Ham’s four home matches this season in the Premier League have ended in 2-0 results, with the Hammers losing two of those three games.
- Palhinha has been yellow carded in all of Fulham’s four away league games this season.
Prediction
The recent international break seems to have done West Ham some good because they’ve kept clean sheets in their last two matches with three clinical goals, whilst they’ve also often dominated large spells but they could do with converting more chances into goals once built momentum up.
Fulham meanwhile were just a disaster after Chalobah’s red card last weekend against Newcastle who were able to stretch the Cottagers beyond their defensive capabilities, whilst also punishing poor marking across the pitch so a huge response is required here.
Mitrovic’s foot injury also didn’t help Fulham’s cause given how integral he has been to their attack this season, which is worrying because West Ham will certainly smell victory if Mitrovic is absent given the Cottagers’ poor away record in this fixture.
Now if I am being honest, the result feels like it lingers on whether Mitrovic plays because if he does then we could have a solid contest, whereas if he doesn’t then I fancy the Hammers to take another clinical victory if they can patiently suss out how to break Fulham’s defence down.
Prediction: West Ham 2-0 Fulham
Result: West Ham 3-1 Fulham