Fulham were held to a draw by London neighbours in their final winter friendly before the Premier League’s resumption at a cold Craven Cottage this afternoon. Marco Silva’s side had the better of the first half and deservedly led at the break after Carlos Vinicius headed his first Fulham goal from a fine Kenny Tete cross after a flowing move along the right flank. But the Hammers shaded the second half and Jarrod Bowen punished some poor defending to bring the visitors level with a low shot past Marek Rodak just after the hour.
Silva’s side showed a degree of experimentation nine days ahead of the Boxing Day trip to Crystal Palace with Tim Ream lining up at left back after his World Cup exploits. Tom Cairney started in central midfield with Bobby Decordova-Reid and William on the wings and Vinicius leading the line. The Hammers began with arguably their strongest possible line-up without their participants at the World Cup, with only Michail Antoinio missing aside from those injured.
Fulham made the brighter side with the peerless Andreas Pereira to the fore. Within ninety seconds, he had produced a clever turn to get away from claret and blue tacklers and then he won a corner with a trademark burst of pace. The Brazilian inadvertently Gianluca Scamacca’s afternoon early with a late tackle and then fashioned the first chance of note when working a ball out to Cairney. The Fulham skipper fed Willian, who had a fine first half, but his compatriot Pereira could only shoot straight at Lukasz Fabianski.
Bowen then wasted a glorious opportunity, turning a shot wide from inside the six yard box after a brilliant run down the right from Vladimir Coufal. Benrahma ballooned an effort high into the Hammersmith End after cutting in from the left flank, but the rest of the half belonged to Fulham. Vinicius twice headed wide from promising positions and looked destined to end the half frustrated when his clever flick from Pereira’s cross was deflected wide.
But the Brazilian, largely used as an understudy to Aleksandar Mitrovic in his first four months at Craven Cottage, gave Fulham the lead two minutes before the break. A prolonged period of home pressure paid off when Pereira and Decordova-Reid worked an angle for Tete to cross and Vinicius beat Craig Dawson to head home. It was a lead Fulham’s fine finish to the half merited and initially they looked likelier to extend their advantage after the break.
But West Ham’s greater creativity and tenacity eventually told. Marek Rodak produced a fine reaction save to deny Pablo Fornals but proved helpless when Flynn Downes won the ball back on the edge of the Fulham box and fed Bowen, who fired clinically past the Slovakian international. The Whites replied with a drive from distance from Cairney but the visitors finished the stronger with Rodak preserving a share of the spoils as he tipped over a late header from Tomas Soucek.
FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Leno (Rodak 45); Tete, Ream (Mbabu 64), Diop, Adarabioyo; Reed, Cairney (Harris 83); Decordova-Reid (Wilson 74), Willian (James 64), Pereira; Vinicius. Subs (not used): McNally, Duffy, McAvoy, Chalobah, Onomah, McFarlane.
GOAL: Vinicius (43).
WEST HAM UNITED (4-2-3-1): Fabianski; Coufal, Emerson (Johnson 78), Dawson, Ogbonna; Soucek, Lanzini; Fornals, Bowen (Swyer 86), Benrahma (Mubama 86); Scamacca (Downes 12). Subs (not used): Randolph, Hegyi, Coventry, Ekwah, Ashby, Laing, Potts, Forbes.
GOAL: Bowen (62).
REFEREE: John Brooks.
ATTENDANCE: 9,625
