West Ham edge Fulham in manager Potter's first league game in charge

Updated: Jan 14, 2025, 10:46 pm

West Ham United rode their luck to beat charitable London rivals Fulham 3-2 in new manager Graham Potter's first Premier League match in charge on Tuesday.

A fluent Fulham side dominated the derby but gifted the hosts two goals, the second of which scored by Lucas Paquetá proved to be the winner.

Fulham, for whom Alex Iwobi scored twice, will wonder how they left the London Stadium pointless, but Potter will not care as he enjoyed a victory on his home debut.

"It's a fantastic three points when you consider the players we've got missing," former Brighton & Hove Albion and Chelsea boss Potter, who replaced Julen Lopetegui last week, told TNT. "It was a real team effort and we had to ride our luck at times and had to suffer but we scored three goals."

Carlos Soler's superb first-time finish after a dreadfully wayward pass by Fulham's Andreas Pereira in the 31st minute gave the home side the lead completely against the run of play.

West Ham doubled their advantage two minutes later with Tomás Soucek firing home from close range after a great pull back by Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

West Ham players celebrate after scoring a goal against Fulham in the Premier League.
West Ham players celebrate after scoring a goal against Fulham in the Premier League.
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Iwobi reduced the deficit shortly after the interval when his cross aimed at Raúl Jiménez's head deceived West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski and went straight in.

But Fulham self-destructed again as keeper Bernd Leno was caught dawdling in possession by Danny Ings, who turned the ball to Paqueta to fire into an empty goal.

Iwobi again reduced the deficit with his second of the evening, an almost identical effort to his first, and Fulham laid siege to the West Ham goal in the closing stages but the hosts hung on grimly for a morale-boosting win.

Substitute Adama Traore spurned Fulham's best chance late on when he blazed over after a goalmouth scramble.

"When you make mistakes like we did, it's very difficult to win football matches," Fulham boss Marco Silva said. "There was only one team that was on the pitch trying to win the game until we conceded that first goal that we gave them."

Victory lifted West Ham two places to 12th with 26 points while Fulham's first defeat in nine league games left them in ninth spot with 30.