The Tanner Report : West Ham 0 Fulham 2
Fulham achieved their first double of the season – and third away win – at the London Stadium on Sunday.
The victory removed all doubts that the team was coasting and thinking more about forthcoming holidays than points.
It must nonetheless be inevitable that any team in mid-table like ourselves, free of relegation worries and extremely unlikely to qualify for a European competition place, would become complacent but to be fair Fulham played with vigour.
Andreas Pereira, who had not scored since August, rediscovered his form and scoring boots with 2 well-taken goals.
He is a typical signing, being a player with untapped potential at Manchester United for whom he rarely played, who has proved a key component in Fulham.
Others of a similar ilk are Alex Iwobi, Calvin Bassey – and if we add to that the reliable keeping of Bernd Leno, the strength and prowess of Joao Pahlinha as an enforcer, Tim Castagne’s performances at right back and the superb Antonee Robinson at left back – then we are an outfit deserving of mid-table.
The one area of concern was goalscoring with the departure of Alex Mitrovic, but Rodrigo Muniz has come good with 8 goals in 10 games – winning the Premiership player of the month for March.
More concerning is that Tim Ream and Willian are now 35 and surely must be replaced.
The annual wage bill is £135 million and – as Nottingham Forest and Everton have discovered – the Financial Sustainability rules are exactingly imposed.
