Fulham and West Ham play out a stalemate draw as VAR controversy strikes again

Fulham are running out of time in their hope to avoid the drop for a second successive Premier League campaign.

Again, the Cottagers lacked an end product, a problem which has been ever-present throughout this campaign.

Scott Parker’s side have only managed to score three goals in their last five league outings. They hoped to have the issue sorted on deadline day when they thought they had Joshua King in the bag, just for him to go to Everton. They did however manage to sign ex-Sunderland striker Joshua Maja.

Up against a West Ham side who had won seven from their previous eight, the West London side dominated much of the possession without really ever looking like scoring. Perhaps it will be David Moyes who leaves the happier of the two managers.

Unsurprisingly, it was Ademola Lookman who was the brightest spark in the team again. An excellent counter from the hosts led to Lookman taking a shot from outside the box but his effort missed Lukasz Fabianski near post with the keeper beaten.

On the stroke of half-time, his backheel allowed Antonee Robinson to find Ivan Cavaleiro’s head but his effort was straight at Fabianski in the Hammers’ net.

The former Everton man turned provider again ten minutes after half-time. He put Ruben Loftus-cheek through on goal with an excellent through-ball but the Chelsea loanee’s lobbed effort went off target. 

It was the visitors who had the best chance of the game two minutes later. Declan Rice’s inviting cross was met by Vladimir Coufal but his powerful headed attempt rattled the bar against the run of play. 

Parker introduced Aleksandar Mitrovic and Maja in the hope of grabbing all three points but neither could find the goal that Fulham and their manager craved having not won any of their previous 12 league games coming into this encounter.

The biggest talking point of the game came in the seventh minute of additional time. Tomas Soucek was sent off for violent conduct after an accidental clash with Mitrovic. Moyes didn’t hold back after the game:

“I am actually quite embarrassed for Mike [Dean] that he would have made that decision. When are the referees going to stand up and say this is not the correct way to referee games?

“I think the referees could easily put a stop to this, and they are probably the ones who could do it by saying, ‘no, we are not going to continue to give soft free-kicks, we are not going to react to screaming’.”

 

Parker was satisfied with what he had seen from his team. He said:

“We were superb from start to finish. I don’t think we could have dominated the game anymore than we did. We’ve taken huge steps but the next one is the most important one.” 

The result leaves Fulham eight points adrift of safety after Burnley’s 1-1 draw with Brighton earlier in the day. West Ham missed the opportunity to leapfrog Liverpool but they remain in fifth place.