If this was to be the dress rehearsal for West Ham’s big European night, the boos that greeted both the interval and the final curtain told you everything about what the audience thought of the pre-show.
Andreas Pereira’s double for Fulham saw off the Hammers on an afternoon in which David Moyes’s leaders lost pace, failed in their lines and gave no indication they could overturn a two-goal deficit against unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday at night to reach Europe. League semi-final.
Not only that, but West Ham blew the chance to leapfrog Newcastle and Manchester United into sixth place in the Premier League.
For all the magic and miracles that European nights can bring, the odds against them overcoming a Leverkusen team unbeaten in 42 games suggested that, in reality, a win over Fulham in the middle of the table could have been his best way to achieve that football. He will return to the London Stadium next season.
“I’m devastated,” Moyes said. “This was a great opportunity to finish sixth with five games left, what a great position to be in. We lost the ball and that opened us up.” We were punished.
Andreas Pereira scored twice as Fulham achieved a long-awaited away victory in the Premier League.
David Moyes’ side are tasked with completing a historic European comeback in midweek
His performance against Fulham shows no signs of beating Bayer Leverkusen
‘Miracle is a strong word. I thought we didn’t have our shooting boots. We’re going to need our shooting boots. [against Leverkusen]”We are going to need the scorers to give their best.”
Moyes does not yet know if he will have top scorer Jarrod Bowen back from injury to face Leverkusen. “He’s getting better,” was all the West Ham manager could say.
If they want to produce another magical night on Thursday, they can’t afford to make the same mistakes. They can’t afford to have Michail Antonio shoot early from eight yards out.
They cannot afford, as they did in Fulham’s first game, for Konstantinos Mavropanos to try to cushion a long pass inside his own area with the touch of an airport porter and watch Pereira round Lukas Fabianski to score.
They cannot afford the luxury of figures like Lucas Paqueta giving the ball away as he did for the first goal, although the Brazilian will not participate on Thursday after his yellow card in the first leg defeat.
In this presentation, that is a blessing. “Every now and then there are players like that who you have to give a bit of license to do things,” Moyes said.
‘Today your license gave us nothing. He probably punished us in some way too.”
The impressive Pereira scored twice, converting the second from Alex Iwobi’s cross after 72 minutes, but could have scored even more. He had a much better chance from close range in the first half after a simple ball down the flank opened up West Ham.
Moyes chose to rest several key players with an eye on the European clash
Fulham were in complete control and beat the Irons in their own stadium.
There was concern at the end when young substitute George Earthy left the field on a stretcher.
He was lucky to stay on the field before doubling Fulham’s lead after a strong tackle caught Paqueta high up the leg, but referee Stuart Attwell brandished a yellow card and VAR Darren England agreed.
After his first goal, Pereira ran down the field to hug coach Marco Silva.
“His celebration was probably because of how we’ve been demanding he get to those areas,” Silva said. ‘We told him to be in the pockets and behind. I was very happy to see him in those areas. It was good to see the composure for the first goal. It’s going to be important for Andreas.
West Ham, as Moyes admitted, were anything but ruthless. Antonio lit up. Mohammed Kudus shot past the post. Paqueta shot into the side of the net. Coufal opened wide. Ings headed straight at Bernd Leno.
James Ward-Prowse nodded in from close range on the stroke of half-time after a good late run into the box. This will not be enough against Leverkusen.
There was major concern later when West Ham’s young substitute George Earthy left the pitch on a stretcher and on oxygen and was then sent to hospital with a head injury after a collision with team-mate Edson Alvarez left him needing treatment. for eight minutes.
“I’m really disappointed for George,” Moyes added. “He has done very well in training and in the under-21 team, getting very close to the first team. He had some really nice touches when he came on.
“It’s okay, we think it was a blow to the head.” He is awake and has gone to the hospital to get checked out. We think it’s okay. He’s a great footballer, a great little coach.”
Eighth place could still be enough for West Ham to regain European football depending on how the domestic trophies fall and whether England claim five Champions League places.
But this is now a Hammers team with three wins in 14 Premier League games and with Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City still to play. You can’t pass up opportunities like this to move up to sixth place.
West Ham have enjoyed many special European nights here and will need their best game against Xavi Alonso’s Leverkusen. They will be inspired by those memories, by the echoes of the defeat here of Sevilla, winner of the Europa League two years ago.
Few fans stayed when the final whistle blew, but those who did made enough noise to make it clear that they couldn’t take advantage of performances like this.