West Ham secured a vital victory in the survival fight with a hard fought 1-0 victory over London rivals Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Mood was at an all-time low going into the fixture, having suffered a humiliating 5-1 hammering against Newcastle just 3 days prior, but our Hammers responded.

David Moyes was under immense pressure ahead of the game with calls growing for the club to dismiss the Scot as manager, which could have played a role in Moyes making so many changes to the lineup and formation.

Nayef Aguerd, Emerson, Lucas Paqueta and Said Benrahma were all missing from the first 11, with Moyes opting for Angelo Ogbonna, Aaron Cresswell, Pablo Fornals and Danny Ings came in for a 4-4-2 approach which somewhat felt like a last throw of the dice.

Although it wasn’t a stand out showing, it was one that certainly looked more organised that it’s predecessor, with the defence looking more confident and better equipped to deal with the pressure.

The only goal of the game came from a Fulham player however, with Jarrod Bowen doing some excellent work on the edge of the box to fire across goal, to then be steered in by Harrison Reed.

West Ham, understandably eager to not then go on to lose a lead, opted to play more defensive and rely on counter attacks – although it was a game plan that ultimately worked.

Despite a late save by Fabianski our Hammers were rarely troubled and looked a better oiled unit from the side we saw against Newcastle.

The win took Moyes side to 30 points in 13th place with 10 games remaining – giving belief again that survival could be accomplished.

The West Ham Way Podcast hosts Dave Walker and ExWHUEmployee were understandably pleased with the win whilst admitting it was the result more so today than the performance.

“I’ve often said that we have enough quality players to get David Moyes over the line some weeks and today was one of them,” said Walker.

“Again, not a great performance but the thee points is all that matters.”

“The result is all that matters from today and it was one I really expected us to get,” stated our famed ITK Ex. “6 points out of 9 is a decent return and why I didn’t panic too much after the disaster against Newcastle!

“The performance wasn’t the greatest but at this stage 3 points is all that matters. I thought defensively we were very solid – and a big well done to all the players that came in today and put in good shifts.”