By Jonathan Pearce
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue: Upton Park Date: Saturday, 1 September KO 12:45 GMT
TEAM NEWS
West Ham midfielder Mark Noble and striker Carlton Cole should play, despite having been linked with moves.
But the Hammers will still be without injured Wales midfielder Jack Collison, who has a knee problem.
Fulham have Kieron Richardson and Dimitar Berbatov available after they completed their respective transfers from Sunderland and Manchester United.
Injured duo Kerim Frei (pelvis) and Philippe Senderos (foot) are still unavailable.
MATCH PREVIEW
Fulham’s unsettling week could take a turn for the worse at Upton Park, where the Cottagers haven’t won since their first Premier League meeting there 11 years ago. A shadow has been cast over their early optimism by the Clint Dempsey Liverpool transfer saga, the loss of Mousa Dembele, and the Capital One Cup defeat at Sheffield Wednesday.
This comes on top of the loss of Andrew Johnson, Danny Murphy, Pavel Pogrebnyak and Bobby Zamora. Martin Jol has worked hard to bring in replacements, but his squad now looks unbalanced. West Ham can take advantage of their upheaval, and must do so.
If the Hammers are to stay up, they have to win home matches like this. They’ve won five in a row at Upton Park and lost just two of their last 23 games in all competitions.
New boys Mohamed Diame and Alou Diarra give them a solid if rather functional look at the heart of midfield. The return of James Collins was an inspired signing. Kevin Nolan will always get goals at any level and Carlton Cole has a good record in this fixture, scoring six times against Fulham.
The visitors will know, though, that the longer they can hold the Hammers, the more frustrated the home fans will become. Sam Allardyce has done all that was asked of him by getting the club back into the Premier League, but he still doesn’t seem to have been taken to heart fully by the Boleyn bubble-blowers.
The spectre of Harry Redknapp, now back in the job market, will be on his shoulder and on the lips of West Ham fans who yearn for his return. That is so unfair on ‘Big Sam’. He’s done a great job and can lead West Ham to a top-half finish if their home form holds up. For Fulham, it’ll be a while before Martin Jol’s new team gels. Home win for me.
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
Fulham have only won one of their eight Premier League visits to Upton Park. That came in the first-ever Premier League meeting between the two clubs on 3 November 2001 (a 2-0 win, with Sylvain Legwinski and Steed Malbranque the goal-scorers).
The highest-scoring match between the two clubs was at Upton Park in 1968, when West Ham won 7-2 on 3 February.
West Ham took four points off Fulham when they were last in the Premier League (in the 2010/11 season).
West Ham
They have only lost two of their past 23 competitive fixtures in all competitions.
The Hammers won just five of their 19 home matches the last time they were in the Premier League (2010/11).
Since the start of last season, Hammers captain Kevin Nolan has never gone more than four games without scoring.
Fulham
Fulham have only won 30 of their 210 Premier League away matches (the fewest wins of any club to have played at least 150 away matches in the division).
The Cottagers have drawn just one of their past 17 Premier League matches.
With two goals from two games, Irish winger Damien Duff has already matched his Premier League goals total for last season (when he made 23 starts).
