West Ham United continue their 2020/21 Premier League season with the visit of Fulham to London Stadium on Saturday evening.
The fixture will be shown live in the UK by BT Sport Box Office, with kick-off at 8pm, and across the world by the Premier League’s international broadcast partners.
The Irons welcome a Whites team managed by three-times Hammer of the Year Scott Parker to east London seeking to return to winning ways after drawing with Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City and losing out at Liverpool last weekend, while Fulham are looking to build on their first game of the season at home to West Bromwich Albion.
Saturday's game will see both clubs support Remembrance Weekend by wearing poppies on their shirts and standing together for a minute's silence and The Last Post before kick-off.
West Ham will also be raising awareness for the Bobby Moore Fund, the charity formed by the late England captain's wife Stephanie to fight bowel cancer.
You can order a copy of the 116-page Official Programme for your collection here, while a FREE digital edition is available to read online on whufc.com from 7pm on Friday.
Bobby Moore Fund
Bobby Moore, West Ham’s greatest ever player and a perfect gentleman of the game, tragically died from bowel cancer in 1993. He was just 51. In Bobby’s memory, the Club are dedicating this fixture to raising awareness of the Bobby Moore Fund’s Football Shirt Friday campaign.
On Friday 20 November, we are encouraging football fans across the nation to wear their shirts, donate and share a selfie to help tackle bowel cancer. If you want to get involved, head to FootballShirtFriday.org and get your free pack with plenty of fundraising ideas which can be done safely from home or wherever you are.
Team news
West Ham United manager David Moyes confirmed Michail Antonio (hamstring) and Mark Noble (ribs) will definitely miss Saturday's game.
However, Aaron Cresswell has recovered from a knock and recent loan signing Saïd Benrahma is pushing for a full debut after being introduced as a substitute at Anfield last weekend.
Fulham have a doubt over midfielder Mario Lemina (hamstring), but winger Aboubakar Kamara is definitely out after being sent-off against Crystal Palace a fortnight ago.
Defenders Kenny Tete and Terence Kongolo are also unavailable through lower-limb injuries.
The opposition - Fulham
Two-and-a-half decades ago, Fulham supporters would have blinked in disbelief if you had told them their club would spend 15 of the next 25 seasons in the Premier League, reach the UEFA Europa League final and been represented by some of the world’s best-known players.
Back in 1995, the Whites were struggling in the fourth tier and playing in front of crowds averaging less than 7,000 at an historic but dated stadium.
Two years later, everything changed, with Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed buying the club and serving as the catalyst for a sensational rise through the divisions, sensational managerial appointments and sensational player signings.
By 2001, just four years after winning promotion from the fourth tier, Fulham were in the Premier League.
With outstanding players such Edwin van der Sar, Clint Dempsey, Danny Murphy, Moussa Dembele, Brede Hangeland, Louis Saha and Dimitar Berbatov leading the way under the guidance of Jean Tigana, Chris Coleman and Roy Hodgson, the Whites more than held their own in the top flight, remaining there for 13 seasons until suffering relegation 2014.
The highlight of that period was undoubtedly the run, under Hodgson’s management, to the 2010 UEFA Europa League final, which saw Fulham play 19 ties and over come the likes of Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, Wolfsburg and Hamburg before being edged out 2-1 in the final by Atletico Madrid.
Since Al-Fayed sold the club to Shahid Khan in 2013, however, Fulham’s fortunes have fluctuated somewhat, with three seasons in the Championship followed by Play-Off final success in 2018, relegation in 2019 and another Play-Off final win in August this year.
Fulham supporters will not be happy if another season of struggle ensues in 2020/21, but it is all a far cry from those dark days 25 years ago.
Previous meetings
West Ham United and Fulham meet in the Premier League for the 23rd time.
The Irons have had the best of things by far down the years, winning 13 of the 22 meetings, while the Whites have won just four, with five draws.
Fulham have not won on any of their last nine Premier League visits to east London dating back to a 2-0 victory on 3 November 2001, over 19 years ago. However, the Cottagers did win an FA Cup fifth-round replay at the Boleyn Ground in February 2004.
David Moyes has an enviable career record against Fulham, too, having won 16 and lost just eight of the 28 matches he has managed against them with Manchester United and Everton. The Scot is on a ten-match personal unbeaten run against the Whites.
Moyes’ opposite number Scott Parker is well-known in these parts, having played 129 times in Claret and Blue between 2007-11, scoring 12 goals and winning three Hammer of the Year awards.
Saturday’s match will be Parker’s managerial debut against West Ham, but he did lead Tottenham Hotspur’s U18s in two league matches against the Irons in 2017/18, winning one and losing one.
By the numbers
1898 The first-ever meeting between the two London clubs took place on 3 December 1898 in Southern League Division Two. Goals from George Gresham and Reynolds secured a 2-1 victory for Thames Ironworks at the Memorial Grounds in front of 2,000 supporters. The Ironworks completed a double with a 1-0 victory at Craven Cottage the following April, where Lloyd scored the only goal of the game. The following season 1899/00, a Test match play-off was contested between the two clubs to decide who would play in the First Division in 1900/01, with Bill Joyce scoring a hat-trick to keep the Ironworks in the top flight.
318 West Ham United legend Tony Gale is also highly regarded at Fulham, where he made 318 first-team appearances before travelling down the District line from Putney Bridge to Upton Park in 1984. Born in Westminster, Gale came through the youth ranks at Fulham before debuting at 16 in an Anglo-Scottish Cup tie with Orient. Following West Ham great Bobby Moore’s retirement, he became a first-team regular while still a teenager in 1977/78, playing alongside George Best. He later helped the Whites win promotion to and finish fourth in the Second Division in the early 1980s.
13 No West Ham United player has scored more goals against Fulham than Syd Puddefoot, who netted 13 between 18 December 1915 and Boxing Day 1932, meaning it was just over 17 years between his first and last goals for the Hammers against the Whites! Nine of Puddefoot’s 13 goals came in the London Combination, which replaced the Football League during the First World War, with the final four being scored in the Second Division.
7-2 West Ham United’s record League victory over Fulham was the 7-2 First Division win scored by Ron Greenwood’s side at the Boleyn Ground on 3 February 1968. Trevor Brooking and Geoff Hurst each scored twice, while Brian Dear, Bobby Moore and Martin Peters were also on target. Amazingly, the Hammers had also beaten the Whites by a five-goal margin the previous season, when Hurst scored four and Peters two in a 6-1 win in Upton Park on Bonfire Night 1966.
5 Geoff Hurst scored in five consecutive First Division matches against Fulham between March 1966 and February 1968, netting nine goals in total. Carlton Cole scored in four straight Premier League matches against Fulham in the 2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons, then added two more in a 3-1 win at Craven Cottage on Boxing Day 2010.
2005 Portuguese forward Luis Boa Morte was named Fulham’s Player of the Year in 2005. The Lisbon-born winger joined Fulham on loan from Southampton in 2000 before making the move permanent after helping the Whites win promotion to the Premier League. In total, Boa Morte scored 33 goals in 203 appearances before joining West Ham United in 2006.
Match officials
Referee: Robert Jones
Assistant Referees: Darren Cann and Mark Scholes
Fourth Official: Martin Atkinson
VAR: Andre Marriner
Assistant VAR: Edward Smart
Merseysider Robert Jones takes charge of just his second Premier League fixture, having made his top-flight debut when he refereed the Brighton & Hove Albion v Sheffield United fixture in December 2019.
Born in Wirral, Jones ran the line in more than 100 EFL matches before being promoted to Football League List of referees for the start of the 2016/17 season.
Affiliated to the Cheshire FA and Wirral Referees’ Association, Jones has enjoyed a rapid rise through the footballing pyramid.
He refereed the 2016 National League Play-Off final between Grimsby Town and Forest Green Rovers at Wembley, and returned to the Home of Football to take charge of the 2018 EFL League One Play-Off final between Rotherham United and Shrewsbury Town, and last season’s edition of the same fixture, which saw Wycombe Wanderers overcome Oxford United.
He will be assisted by the vastly-experienced Darren Cann, who ran the line in the UEFA Champions League final and the FIFA World Cup final in the space of 50 days in 2010, and Mark Scholes.