Graham Potter will take charge of West Ham United at the London Stadium for the first time tonight as Fulham head east looking to continue their impressive recent run in capital clashes. Sullivan, Kretinsky and Gold finally pulled the plug on Julien Lopetegui after a torturous drip feed of press speculation and stories about the Spaniard falling out with technical director Tim Steiden. That the Hammers had lurched towards the relegation zone hardly helped matters – and Potter’s first job since being sacked by Chelsea is to ensure that one of English football’s most famous names is heading in the right direction once again.

There were positive points to pick out of his first game in charge – even if it had been a bit of whirlwind between Potter’s appointment and Friday night’s FA Cup third round tie at Aston Villa. West Ham took the lead and were certainly in the game at Villa Park, but they were blown away by a quickfire double. Potter will still have to grapple with the same problems that dogged Lopetegui towards the tail end of his reign: a whole host of injuries and a desperate lack of firepower as well as the ongoing schism between the club’s hierarchy and sections of the fanbase.

But it isn’t difficult to see why Potter, who has been patient about his next move despite being linked with hundreds of jobs since his short stay at Stamford Bridge came to an end, alighted on West Ham as his next stop. History aside, the Hammers have all the ingredients for success: a relatively-new and sizeable stadium, a squad that has genuine Premier League pedigree, recent continental triumphs and a collection of talented and technically gifted youngsters hungry for first-team football. It is also easy to forget that Lopetegui had stitched together a five-match unbeaten run before heavy defeats at the hands of Liverpool and Manchester City sealed his fate.

The Hammers’ injury crisis has only grown in recent days with Niklas Füllkrug joining Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio on the treatment table after succumbing to a hamstring problem at Villa Park. Potter will have to be inventive with his forward line, especially as former Leeds winger Crysencio Summerville was taken off during the FA Cup defeat and is rated by his new boss ‘as touch and go’ for tonight’s encounter. That could see Mo Kudus play as a false nine or the man who scored United’s stoppage-time equaliser at Craven Cottage earlier in the season, Danny Ings, make a rare start.

At the other end of the field, Jean-Clair Todibo will not be available to line up at the heart of the Hammers’ defence but there appears to be more positive news regarding the fitness of left back Emerson Palmieri and former Arsenal central defender Konstantinos Mavropanos, who has trained for last two days. Marco Silva, who was effusive about Potter’s impact on the European game in his press conference ahead of this fixture on Monday afternoon, feels he knows how West Ham will play – even if there are question marks about some of the personnel.

Silva’s side are on something of a curious run. The Whites have knitted together a nine-match unbeaten run following the comfortable walloping of Watford in the FA Cup last week, but they have won only two of their last eight league fixtures and dropped points at home to Southampton and Ipswich Town either side of Christmas. Pushing for Europe seems something of a pipe dream while they remain consistently inconsistent and one of the biggest worries has to be that Fulham’s only clean sheet in their last ten games came against the struggling Saints at the Cottage. Silva’s charges have also let in the highest number of goals from outside the area (8) this season and the most (20) since the start of 2023/2024.

But that’s probably a glass half empty way of looking at things. Fulham have flourished despite losing Joao Palhinha in the summer – and weathered a serious of serious injuries, having lost Sander Berge, Sasa Lukic and Kenny Tete at crucial times of the season. They have held Arsenal and Liverpool in during a testing December and beaten Brighton and Chelsea. Stringing a few wins together would prove that the Cottagers are ready to take those strides forward that everyone has been talking about, but Fulham have never done things the easy way.

Silva’s selection this evening will be interesting. Has he ditched the back three that delivered a long-awaited win at Stamford Bridge but contributed to those disappointing displays against the Saints and Ipswich? That system seemed like a reaction to losing Berge just as the Norwegian midfielder was setting to come into his own – and the former Sheffield United and Burnley man will have a fitness test tonight over returning to training after sustaining an ankle injury against Southampton. Rodrigo Muniz scored a stunning opener against the Hornets but was substituted at half time with a back problem, allowing Raul Jimenez to coolly convert another penalty and dispel worries about an upset. You would expect Jimenez to start up front regardless of the Brazilian’s availability.

The shape and combinations in midfield will be interesting. Andreas Pereira wore the captain’s armband in the FA Cup – a not-so-subtle signal that Silva wants his Brazilian international to stay. The former Manchester United midfielder’s future has been the subject of ‘false claims’ about increased Palmeiras bids, according to his head coach, and Pereira – who scored twice when the Whites ended twelve-match top-tier run without a win at West Ham last season – is likely to be paired with Sasa Lukic in the Fulham engine room. Whether there’s space for summer signing Emile Smith Rowe as well as goal-getter Harry Wilson alongside them remains an open question.

Fulham haven’t registered back-to-back away wins over the Hammers since March 1980 when a brace from Geoff Banton followed a Teddy Maybank strike to settle a five-goal thriller at Upton Park. Silva is fond of urging his side to keep writing fresh Fulham history – tonight would be another statement about his side’s progress just as West Ham are looking to turn the page. It certainly won’t be easy but it is a measure of Fulham’s progress that they approach this came with confidence rather than trepidation.

MY FULHAM XI (4-2-3-1): Leno; Castagne, A. Robinson, Diop, Bassey; Lukic, Pereira; Wilson, Iwobi, Smith Rowe; Jimenez. Subs: Benda, Andersen, R. Sessegnon, Reed, Berge, Cairney, King, Traore, Godo, Muniz.