West Ham United vs Fulham

London Stadium forms the backdrop for the latest Premier League edition of the cross-capital rivalry between West Ham United and Fulham. 

West Ham’s life under new manager Graham Potter was off to a gut-wrenching start as the Hammers squandered a halftime lead in a 2-1 FA Cup defeat at Aston Villa over the weekend. Halting the Hammers’ dreadful run of back-to-back Premier League losses via an aggregate score of 9-1 could be a tall order amid a full-blown injury crisis at the London Stadium. With Michail Antonio, Niclas Fullkrug, and Jarrod Bowen on the sidelines, West Ham’s hopes of scoring more than once for the first time in seven competitive matches look bleak (W1, D2, L3). However, the hosts can draw confidence from their outstanding recent H2H record on this ground (W8, D3, L1), even though they’ve only emerged victorious from one of their last five home league outings (D2, L2).

Meanwhile, visiting Fulham maintained their rich vein of form with a 4-1 thrashing of Championship promotion hopefuls Watford in the FA Cup third round last weekend, stretching their unbeaten streak in domestic competitions to nine matches (W3, D6). Yet, a high volume of draws has derailed Fulham’s hopes of securing an unlikely European finish, with a 2-2 home stalemate against newly-promoted Ipswich Town at the start of 2025 marking their ninth top-flight draw this term! Nonetheless, Marco Silva’s men trail fourth-placed Chelsea by only six points heading into this round. Reducing that gap hinges on Fulham’s ability to defy their indifferent six-game away league run (W2, D3, L1). But they can take heart from avoiding defeat against Chelsea, Liverpool, and Tottenham during that stretch.