West Ham United vs Fulham. Premier League.
London StadiumAttendance62,454.
Report and free match highlights as West Ham register a third straight win in all competitions after Andreas Pereira had given Fulham lead in stunning fashion; Jarrod Bowen, Gianluca Scamacca and Michail Antonio on target for hosts
Sunday 9 October 2022 19:04, UK
Gianluca Scamacca's contentious strike helped ensure West Ham made it successive Premier League wins for the first time since January with a 3-1 comeback victory over Fulham at the London Stadium.
With Aleksandar Mitrovic missing with a foot injury, Andreas Pereira took attacking responsibility with a stunning opener (5), but the Brazilian went from hero to villain when his foul inside the penalty area on Craig Dawson allowed Jarrod Bowen to level (29).
Marco Silva was furious with the decision to award the spot-kick - and he was further enraged when Scamacca's composed finish after the restart (62) was allowed to stand despite a lengthy VAR delay to check for a handball from the striker.
Silva said regarding the incident: "I will not speak about the referee, sorry, because they will probably come after me and I'll be off the bench or pay a fine. I am not here for that, I am here to manage my players.
"It was a difficult moment for the referee. It's tough for him to see. He was so embarrassed when he saw it on the screen. The decision comes from someone in the VAR.
"He has to respect that but I saw on his face he was embarrassed when I spoke to him. Everyone saw it. It is what it is. I can't control it. We can't control it as a football club. It's not an easy journey for us but hopefully the decisions will be more balanced in the next few weeks."
Michail Antonio (90+1) added a third in stoppage time after a mix-up between Bernd Leno and Tim Ream as West Ham rose to 13th in the Premier League table. Fulham stay in ninth on 11 points after back-to-back defeats.
"I thought we deserved the win," Hammers boss David Moyes said afterwards. "We started slow, maybe an impact of playing on Thursday, but we grew into the game as it went on."
Fulham had alternated between victory and defeat in each of their previous six Premier League games, losing 4-1 at home to Newcastle last time out. The Cottagers' three wins in this run was as many as they had managed in their previous 30 Premier League games combined - and they made a vibrant start in east London to lead inside five minutes.
When Pereira was released by Neeskens Kebano, there appeared very little on but Kurt Zouma invited the shot and from an acute angle the former Manchester United midfielder arrowed his finish emphatically across Lukasz Fabianski into the top corner.
Matters might have got worse for the Hammers when Dan James was also afforded far too much time by Declan Rice as his effort crashed against the crossbar on 14 minutes.
On their return to domestic action following their Europa Conference League exertions, in spite of the wholesale changes, West Ham looked off the pace but they - and in particular Lucas Paqueta - gradually asserted themselves.
It was the Brazilian's cross which was headed goalwards by Scamacca but Leno produced a fine reflex save. Scamacca, seeking a third goal in as many games, then dragged a low shot wide from another Paqueta pass - but the hosts levelled following a moment of petulance from Pereira.
Referee Chris Kavanagh had warned the midfielder on more than one occasion as he tangled with Craig Dawson at a set piece but Pereira refused to heed the notice as a shirt pull led to inevitable circumstances.
Bowen dispatched his spot-kick with aplomb to bring up goals in consecutive league games. After a disjointed end to the half, it was West Ham who again carried the fight to Fulham as Scamacca headed Aaron Cresswell's cross wide.
Just after the hour-mark came the game's major talking point as West Ham - and Scamacca - were rewarded for their persistence. Paqueta was unsurprisingly the architect as his lofted pass found the £35m Italian striker beyond the last defender, but his dinked finish initially appeared offside.
After a lengthy VAR delay which reviewed not only whether Scamacca was the wrong side of Bobby Decordova-Reid and indeed whether he handled the ball, the goal was given.
Silva turned to the club captain Tom Cairney - and the midfielder very nearly hauled his side level when his goalbound shot was hooked from virtually off the line by Cresswell.
Moyes injected further energy into his side as Antonio replaced Scamacca - and the substitute added extra gloss to the final scoreline in stoppage time as he outmuscled Joao Palhinha to fire at Leno, but he was not to be denied as the ball duly popped back out to his feet off the hapless Ream for a simple finish.
West Ham boss David Moyes:
"Dan James hitting the bar galvanised us and the crowd. We're still trying to improve a lot of things, but we're doing a lot of good things as well.
"I thought for the penalty that the referee had warned them two or three times, but in truth he should probably have given it the first time. We had a chat in the managers meeting to say you couldn't put two arms round the player. It was a stonewall penalty - it was more of an American Football challenge.
"I thought when Gianluca (Scamacca) didn't celebrate I thought he thought it was offside not handball, but I didn't see his hand involved in it in any way.
"It shows he can score different goals - he had two great chances with his head - and he may have taken the hardest of them all. It was a deft finish. Sometimes when you are possible offside centre forwards don't often go and finish the job off but he did.
"I thought there we bits today that was really good. There were bits I didn't enjoy but it is going in the right direction at the moment. We are playing much better."
Fulham boss Marco Silva:
"I will not say to you what I think. Can I ask you what you think? Even for the third goal there was a handball about five seconds before. Congratulations to West Ham, they got the three points.
"Until the penalty we were clearly the best team on the pitch. West Ham have a lot of quality and come from two really good seasons but Fulham Football Club were clearly the best team of the pitch.
"We showed personality, character and we like to control the game on the pitch and the penalty changed the balance of the match. We lost some focus and confidence after the penalty.
"The game showed that we have to keep learning and improving. I will keep demanding more from my players and more maturity to manage periods of the game better."
Sky Sports' Ben Grounds at the London Stadium:
Marco Silva's promoted Fulham side have now lost four of their past six games. It has been a case of boom or bust with very little in between, in much the same way Bournemouth find themselves in a lofty perch in spite of their 9-0 hammering against Liverpool at the back end of August.
David Moyes challenged his own players to 'show their worth' as West Ham looked to climb the table, and after taking a while to get going, their superiority eventually told.
Following on from victory over Wolves last weekend, it is now just one defeat from their last five matches in all competitions. All the signs are there that the squad can become a competitive unit and Moyes now has plenty of depth to mount a sustained drive on all fronts.
After a slow start to the campaign, something which was not unfamiliar during his successful time at Everton, Moyes is moulding a group again that can live up to the club's heightened ambitions.
Paqueta made an inauspicious start to his West Ham career having not completed a full 90 minutes prior to Sunday, and while he was withdrawn on 84 minutes here, it was by far his most complete display to date.
The Brazilian signed for a club record £51.3m from Lyon created two chances and had four shots to go with his assist for Scamacca. There were other moments of class as he danced away from two Fulham players on the near touchline.
His dazzling feet are sure to make him a fans' favourite in these parts.
Moyes said: "If you're any centre forward you want to play with Paqueta. He's someone who will give you the ball when the opposition least expects it. There were bits of Paqueta that were terrific and some bits that were poor. He played ever so well.
"We were looking to link the play in front of Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek, someone like that. We were linked with a lot of players. Paqueta we didn't think was available until later on, we thought he was going to one of the bigger clubs. But he didn't so it gave us a chance to get him. His work rate for the team is a big part of his game. He's a hard working boy."
Bowen has scored 19 of his 23 Premier League goals at the London Stadium (83 per cent); this is the highest ratio scored at a single stadium by any player with at least 20 goals in the competition's history.
He said: "It was tough, they started really well and we didn't come out of the blocks at all. We dug in and got back into the game and we played some nice stuff. We've won all three games since the international break so confidence is high.
"We've got to be better at starting games because from being behind it is an uphill battle. It is down to us as players to start straight out of the blocks."
Scamacca became the ninth player to score in both of his first two home starts in the Premier League for West Ham, and first since their move to the London Stadium, with Diafra Sakho the previous player to do so at Upton Park in October 2014
Bowen said of Scamacca: "You never know if you're going to be offside or if you've handballed but you saw the celebrations when the goal was given. It was a great finish - him and Lucas (Paqueta) have definitely played their part. If you look at his [Scamacca's] performances he's definitely settled in now."
West Ham return to the Europa Conference League with a home game against Anderlecht on Thursday night, before travelling to Southampton next Sunday.
Fulham host Bournemouth next Saturday before returning to Craven Cottage on October 20 for the visit of Aston Villa.
