We look ahead to another London derby for David Moyes’ side with our Fulham vs West Ham prediction and preview. Who will secure bragging rights in the capital?
Fulham vs West Ham Stats: The Quick Hits
- An even Premier League contest is expected at Craven Cottage, with the Opta supercomputer predicting a Fulham win in 36.5% of simulations and a West Ham triumph in 34.3%.
- However, Fulham are without a win in their last 11 London derbies in the Premier League (D4 L7), since a 2-1 win over Chelsea in January last season.
- West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen has scored in seven straight Premier League away games, only Robin van Persie has ever enjoyed a longer such run.
Match Preview
West Ham United will be looking for back-to-back London derby victories to keep the pressure on the top six in the Premier League when they visit Fulham at Craven Cottage. Sunday’s game is a renewal of rivalries in the capital after impressive results for both in midweek.
Fulham responded to a thrilling but agonising 4-3 defeat at Liverpool last weekend with a 5-0 hammering of struggling Nottingham Forest at Craven Cottage on Wednesday. Alex Iwobi’s first Premier League brace on his 234th appearance in the competition, as well as a double for Raúl Jiménez – who has scored three goals in his last four top-flight appearances, the same amount as he managed in his previous 47 – and a strike from captain Tom Cairney, was enough to down Steve Cooper’s out-of-form side.
That victory moved Marco Silva’s side up to 12th in the league table, just a point behind neighbouring rivals Brentford and Chelsea heading into Matchday 16, after Fulham recorded their biggest top-flight win since August 2012 – also a 5-0 win over Norwich City.
The Cottagers must improve their derby record, though, as they are without a win in their last 11 London derbies in the Premier League (D4 L7) since a 2-1 win over Chelsea in January last season. At home, they have lost five of their last six league games against fellow clubs from the capital (D1), failing to score in each such defeat.
West Ham fell behind to Cristian Romero’s early opener on Thursday but battled back to a 2-1 away victory over Tottenham Hotspur as Jarrod Bowen levelled proceedings at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before James Ward-Prowse’s 74th-minute winner. Bowen, who did not manage a goal away from London Stadium in the league last season, has now scored in each of his last seven Premier League away games. Only former Arsenal striker Robin van Persie can better that run in the competition’s history, scoring in nine consecutive away games between January and May 2011.
Bowen will be out to make it eight in a row at Craven Cottage as West Ham, who are ninth in the table heading into MD 16, aim to chase down Brighton, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Tottenham – the latter in fifth but just three points clear of Moyes’ men.
As for team news, Silva has little in the way of injury worries to consider for Sunday’s lineup, with the fitness of Adama Traoré, Issa Diop and Rodrigo Muniz all being assessed in training before kick-off at Craven Cottage. Fulham can at least call upon Jiménez, who has four goals in his last five league starts against West Ham – only against Everton and Southampton (both five) has the Mexican managed more in the competition.
Hammers goalkeeper Alphonse Areola missed the trip to Tottenham with a wrist injury but should return to the West Ham lineup for Sunday’s kick-off, while Michail Antonio remains absent with a knee issue as the visitors look to extend their four-game unbeaten Premier League run.
Fulham vs West Ham Head-to-Head
West Ham will be aiming to secure local bragging rights against Fulham, who have lost five of their last six Premier League games against the Hammers (D1) dating back to a 2-1 win on New Year’s Day in 2014.
Indeed, West Ham have won 16 Premier League matches against Fulham – they have only beaten Southampton (20) and Tottenham more often in the competition.
David Moyes also enjoys facing the Craven Cottage side, having not lost in 13 Premier League meetings with Fulham as a manager across his time at Everton, Manchester United and West Ham. Only against Aston Villa (14 – 2011 to 2023) and Sunderland (15 – 2002 to 2012) has he enjoyed longer league unbeaten runs.
Moyes’ side were 3-1 victors at London Stadium last season, with Bowen, the now-departed Gianluca Scamacca and Antonio proving Andreas Pereira’s opener redundant, before West Ham also sealed a 1-0 win at Craven Cottage thanks to Harrison Reed’s own goal in April.
Recent Form
Sunday really does appear to have been a day of rest for both sides in recent times, with Fulham losing 10 of their last 13 Premier League Sunday games (W1 D2), while West Ham have lost seven of their last nine league away games on that day (W1 D1), losing each of the last four in a row since beating Bournemouth 4-0 in April.
Silva might not be too concerned by his side’s lack of Sunday best, though, as Fulham have won their last two at Craven Cottage – against Wolves and Nottingham Forest – last winning three consecutively at this level between April and September 2012 (four in a row).
Expect another free-flowing and high-scoring outing, too, given Fulham’s last three Premier League games have seen 17 goals scored (11 for, six against). However, they haven’t netted 3+ goals in four consecutive top-flight matches since October 1961.
Meanwhile, after the Tottenham win followed up a triumph against Burnley at Turf Moor, West Ham have won successive Premier League away games for the second time this season, previously doing so in August/September against Brighton and Luton Town – they only did so once in the entirety of 2022-23.
Fulham vs West Ham Opta Player Ratings
The Opta Player Ratings are something we introduced ahead of 2023-24. For a quick primer on how they’re calculated, you can check our explainer here.
Before kick-off in this match, here are the top five performing players from both teams in the 2023-24 Premier League according to the Opta Player Ratings:
Fulham
Bernd Leno: 69.9 (out of 100)
Alex Iwobi: 64.7
Willian: 63.4
João Palhinha: 62.8
Bobby De Cordova-Reid: 60.1
West Ham
James Ward-Prowse: 79.8 (out of 100)
Jarrod Bowen: 76.6
Mohammed Kudus: 72.6
Emerson: 67.1
Vladimír Coufal: 66.9
These Opta Player Ratings also power our set of brand-new, free-to-play gaming experiences, which you can play on Opta Analyst all season long.
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off on Sunday, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
Fulham vs West Ham Prediction
This will be the closest Matchday 16 encounter according to the Opta supercomputer’s predictions for the weekend fixtures, with Fulham winning 36.5% and West Ham triumphing in 34.3% of 10,000 data-powered simulations.
A draw will not exactly suit either side, but there is a 29.2% likelihood of it happening.
West Ham’s top-six chances in the Premier League jumped to 12.5% after their impressive comeback win at Tottenham, while Fulham’s most likely league-table position is 12th, exactly where they sit heading into the weekend as the two teams prepare for another London derby on Sunday.
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