Fulham feel aggrieved after a 3-1 away loss to West Ham
A contentious score from Gianluca Scamacca helped West Ham complete a 3-1 comeback against visitors Fulham at the London Stadium on Saturday.
Early pressure from Fulham saw Andreas Periera squeezed the ball in after just 6 minutes, only for him to bring down Craig Dawson in the box and allow Jarrod Bowen to level for the home side with a penalty.
But the second half saw the home side dominate, a lengthy VAR check for handball confirming Scamacca’s lobbed finish before Michail Antonio sealed the game in the 91st minute.
Fulham looked the more organised and comfortable side in the first half, putting West Ham on the back foot.
Early pressure and counter-attacking football from Fulham led to the opening goal, scored by Andreas Periera with a brilliant shot from a tight angle.
Fulham limited West Ham’s creation of good chances in the first 25 minutes, but Periera’s poor decision making from a West Ham corner led to a penalty converted by Bowen.
By the end of the first half a draw seemed to be fair result for both teams.
It all changed when the second half started as West Ham began to be more direct on the ball.
Their second goal from Gianluca Scamacca resulted from a contentious decision from VAR who ruled that there was no handball in the build up, much to the fury of the visiting fans and manager Marco Silva.
However, Fulham did have chances and pushed for an equaliser, but to no avail. West Ham made it 3-1 with Antonio scoring a messy breakaway goal in added time.
Fulham missed the injured Aleksandar Mitrović, wih his replacement Carlos Vinicius being largely anonymous.
For West Ham, its onwards and upwards.
In a game dominated by the referee and VAR, West Ham will feel relieved, and Fulham hard done by after a performance that didn’t reflect the score line.
In Marco Silva’s post match report, he said: ‘It’s tough for the referee. He was so embarrassed, like myself, when he saw [the replay] on the screen.’
Another loss for Fulham but they shouldn’t be disheartened by the result as there are a lot of positives they can take from the match.
