What the win over Fulham means for West Ham United going forward is interesting.
The top line, of course, is that West Ham’s 1-0 victory away at Fulham puts them level on points with 17th-placed Nottingham Forest in the Premier League table and just one behind bitter rivals Tottenham.
Who was your MOTM against Fulham and why? 🤔
It wasn’t pretty, but West Ham United got the job done in relatively impressive fashion.
With that in mind, Hammers News looks at the winners and losers from the game.
Winners
Jean-Clair Todibo
Nuno Espirito Santo made a big call before the game, dropping the impressive Konstantinos Mavropanos in favour of Jean-Clair Todibo.
Todibo hadn’t played since he was sent off against Chelsea in late January but hardly put a foot wrong at Craven Cottage on Wednesday night.
A big call from Nuno! What did you make of JC?!
Playing alongside Axel Disasi for the first time, Todibo looked at home.
His red card and subsequent three-match ban against Chelsea threatened to make him the forgotten man of West Ham’s ever-improving defence. On this evidence, Todibo can still offer something.
Jarrod Bowen
Jarrod Bowen has had better games for West Ham of course but the fact he impressed here was noteworthy.
Indeed, Bowen has recently been criticised by West Ham fans and while his performance against Fulham won’t make many headlines, it was something of a response.
It was his pressing that led to Crysensio Summerville’s goal, while Bowen also proved crucial defensively too.
Bowen won’t win many awards for this performance but it was an important one nonetheless.
Mads Hermansen
Mads Hermansen appears to be the nailed on first choice goalkeeper at West Ham right now anyway, but the Dane certainly underlined that on Wednesday evening.
Hermansen was excellent as West Ham beat Fulham, pulling off brilliant saves to deny both Josh King and Timothy Castagne during the dying embers of either half.
Barring a complete disaster, it now seems as if Hermansen will be the regular starter for the final few games of the season.
Losers
Callum Wilson
It was not an especially good night for Callum Wilson, who skied West Ham’s only presentable chance in the first half.
Wilson has played a key role at West Ham this season, scoring five goals in just ten starts.
He, however, proved ineffective here and watching him labour brought home just how much West Ham miss Pablo Felipe.
January signing Pablo may not be as prolific as Wilson, but he provides much more energy alongside Taty Castellanos up front.
His return cannot come soon enough.
Konstantinos Mavropanos
For the same reasons that it was a positive night for the aforementioned Todibo, it was a negative one for Mavropanos.
The Greek has been brilliant recently but Todibo certainly threatened his place in the starting lineup with a fine performance on a foggy night in west London.
Though it’s clearly a huge positive for Nuno to have strength in depth in his backline, Mavropanos now faces a fight to get back into the side.
With only nine games left to play plus whatever happens in the FA Cup, there’s not a lot of time for the defender to reclaim his place.
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