West Ham have been handed a massive boost ahead of their trip to Fulham.

Obviously losing any game of football is disappointing, especially when your team plays well, but when the opposition is Manchester City it’s hard to be too infuriated.

Despite losing 3-1, West Ham’s performance against City was certainly the best they’ve put in under Julen Lopetegui. Their build up play was excellent and there were some real promising signs as a collective. Individually, there were some moments of brilliance too. Bowen and Kudus linked up excellently, while Kilman put in another strong shift too.

Although he conceded 2 goals to Erling Haaland, Alphonse Areola put in a strong first-half performance and without him the score line would have been even more one sided.

Unfortunately, he came off at half-time due to injury with Lukasz Fabianski replacing him. He did look to be in discomfort after saving a shot from Kevin De Bruyne, but he finished out the half. Many were concerned that this could a bad injury brought on by the save.

Thankfully, this isn’t the case as he’s been called up for the French national team’s games this international break. You can only assume that this means he will be fit to play his former side Fulham when the Premier League returns next weekend.

Having Fabianski as backup does make it slightly less worrying about the idea of being without Areola, but there’s a reason the Frenchman is first choice keeper. He’s been absolutely pivotal over the past couple of seasons and, therefore, being without him for any substantial period of time would have been a real miss.