Overview
Entering the mid-season period of the Premier League 2025-2026, West Ham United is falling into the bottom three teams, 5 points behind the safe position after half a season of being assessed as extremely disappointing.
After losing the lead and narrowly losing 2-3 to Aston Villa, West Ham continued to receive another cold shower in the most recent round. At the Etihad Stadium, they were completely overwhelmed by Manchester City and accepted a 0-3 defeat.
Erling Haaland once again played the leading role in Pep Guardiola's system, scoring before and after assisting Tijjani Reijnders to score in the 38th minute, contributing to Man City's 12th victory in the Premier League this season.
West Ham once ignited hope of revival with 2 consecutive victories against Newcastle United and Burnley in the first 2 matches of November. However, the recovery quickly stalled. The Hammers have gone through 6 consecutive matches without a win, only winning 3/18 maximum points in the past period.
More worrying is the form at the London Stadium. Nuno Espirito Santo's team has not won 11/13 recent home matches in the Premier League, with 8 defeats and 3 draws since the beginning of March.
However, history may bring a certain foothold for West Ham this weekend. They will face an opponent who has not won in 13/14 recent away games at the London Stadium, losing 9 and drawing 4 since December 2002.
In the opposite direction, Marco Silva's Fulham this season still shows an erratic face, but they have a chance to squeeze into the top half of the rankings if they win all 3 points at London Stadium.
At Craven Cottage last week, Raul Jimenez's penalty in the last minutes of injury time helped Fulham defeat Nottingham Forest 1-0, thereby winning 2 consecutive Premier League titles for the third time in the season.
Interspersed with two wins at the tournament, Fulham stopped at the Carabao Cup after a 1-2 defeat to Newcastle in the quarter-finals at St James' Park.
Up to now, only the top 5 teams have won more than Fulham's number 7. However, they are the team with the second highest number of defeats in the group not in the relegation zone (8), only less than Nottingham Forest (9).
After 17 rounds, Fulham has 23 points and is currently 13th, 10 points and 5 places ahead of West Ham, and equal points with Newcastle and Brentford.
Personnel situation
West Ham continues to suffer losses in force when Aaron Wan-Bissaka and 20-year-old center-back El Hadji Malick Diouf are absent due to participating in the African Cup with the Congo and Senegal teams.
Regarding injury, Oliver Scarles was forced to leave the field right after the 60th minute in the match against Man City last weekend, and the possibility of the young English player recovering in time to play is considered very low. In addition, veteran goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski is still in the long-term injury group due to a back problem from September.
In the opposite direction, Fulham also lacks important personnel because of AFCON. The Nigerian national team trio including Calvin Bassey, Samuel Chukwueze and Alex Iwobi are all on international duty, meaning Marco Silva must patch up the squad structure in some key positions.
In addition, Fulham also suffered more damage due to injury. Brazilian striker Rodrigo Muniz is absent due to a hamstring injury, while winger Ryan Sessegnon will miss his fifth consecutive match after experiencing muscle problems.
Expected lineup:
West Ham: Areola, Walker-Peters, Kilman, Todibo, Julio, Potts, Fernandes, Magassa, Paqueta, Bowen, Summerville.
Leno, Tete, Andersen, Cuenca, Robinson, Lukic, Berge, Wilson, Smith Rowe, Kevin, Jimenez.
The match between West Ham and Fulham takes place at 10:00 PM on December 27th (Vietnam time).
