West Ham vs Fulham Prediction: A familiar feeling for Fulham as Potter draws on home debut

The Graham Potter era at West Ham United got off to a losing start last Friday as his side let a lead slip at Villa Park to lose 2-1 to Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round. He doesn't have to wait long for his debut in the London Stadium dugout as Irons boss, though, as Fulham provide the opposition in his first Premier League game at the club on Tuesday (19:30, TNT Sports 4).

Read on for my West Ham vs Fulham prediction, complete with all the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

German centre-forward Niclas Fullkrug was substituted in the 15th minute last Friday and has since been ruled out for the next three months, leaving Danny Ings as the club's only available striker with Michail Antonio still recovering from his car accident last month.

Crysencio Summerville also failed to make it to the second half at Villa Park after being withdrawn at half-time and the 23-year-old winger is now an injury doubt for Tuesday. Guido Rodriguez, Carlos Soler and Luis Guilherme are potential inclusions in place of Summerville, though only the latter is anywhere near being a like-for-like replacement.

Jean-Clair Todibo, Emerson Palmieri and captain Jarrod Bowen are expected to miss out again, too, leaving Potter with a threadbare squad.

Football Odds

Kenny Tete and Reiss Nelson are ruled out again for Fulham who are also sweating over the fitness of Sander Berge and Rodrigo Muniz, the former having missed the Cottager's last four games and the latter having been taken off at half-time of last Friday's 4-1 FA Cup victory over Watford at Craven Cottage, where he opened the scoring against the Hornets.

Raul Jimenez replaced Rodrigo Muniz and converted a penalty within four minutes of his introduction. The Mexican is Fulham's top scorer in the Premier League this season with eight goals and he will lead the line from the start again on Tuesday with his Brazilian teammate making the bench, at best.

Marco Silva made seven changes to his starting XI in the cup but we can expect the likes of Bernd Leno, Calvin Bassey, Antonee Robinson and Harry Wilson to return from the off at the London Stadium.

West Ham vs Fulham Odds

West Ham lost 2-0 to Fulham at home last April but had won their first three games against the Cottagers at the London Stadium. Nonetheless, the Irons are slight underdogs on Tuesday with odds of 6/4 giving Potter and his side an implied win probability of 40% compared to the visitors' 42.1% (11/8).

The draw, meanwhile, is priced at 13/5, and both teams to score at 8/15.

Jimenez (6/4) heads the anytime goalscorer market with Ings (21/10) first up for the hosts.

Match Result - Draw @ 13/5

This is a difficult game to call as, on the one hand, Fulham have enjoyed a much better season and are seven points ahead of West Ham after 20 games played. The Cottagers are unbeaten in their last eight Premier League games - nine in all competitions - and have lost just one of their last 12 in the top flight, beating Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge along the way.

However, five of their last six league outings, and six of their last eight, have ended in a stalemate, and only Brighton (10) have drawn more games across the season than Silva's side (nine).

West Ham, meanwhile, should be fired up for Potter's first game at the London Stadium and will have had a couple more training sessions to get to grips with his methods.

Frustratingly, though, they are hampered by injuries, particularly in attack where Bowen, Antonio, Fullkrug and probably Summerville will all be missing. A lot of pressure will be piled on the shoulders of Kudus and Lucas Paqueta, neither of whom have sparkled this season.

The Irons have lost their last two Premier League games - three in all competitions - and haven't beaten a team outside the bottom four since overcoming Newcastle United 2-0 at St James' Park on November 25.

They did hold Bournemouth and Brighton to back-to-back 1-1 draws in the second half of December though, and that was under beleaguered ex-boss Julen Lopetegui.

Potter should provide a pick-me-up for this West Ham side and even with injuries, they have enough to avoid defeat against Fulham, who have taken exactly a point in three of their last five away trips.

The reverse fixture at Craven Cottage in September saw West Ham salvage a late draw via an injury-time equaliser from Ings and I wouldn't be surprised to see a repeat of that scoreline, though I'll play things a bit safer and just back the draw at 13/5.

Price Boosts - Raul Jimenez (FUL) 1+ Shots on Target, Mohammed Kudus (WHU) 1+ Shots on Target, Aaron Wan-Bissaka (WHU) 2+ Tackles, Lucas Paqueta (WHU) 2+ Tackles @ 15/8 9/4

Jimenez has been in terrific goalscoring form this season, netting 10 times in 23 appearances across all competitions. His most recent strike was against Watford last Friday, following on from a brace in a 2-2 draw with Ipswich Town and the opening effort of a 2-2 draw with Bournemouth, meaning he has scored in each of his last three outings, albeit three of his four goals have been from the penalty spot.

The 33-year-old is averaging 1.1 shots on target per game and has managed at least one in his last four appearances, three of which have been in the Premier League. He registered three against Ipswich last Sunday, seeing a header saved by Town goalkeeper Christian Walton before dispatching two spot-kicks past the Englishman.

Jimenez hit the target twice against West Ham at Craven Cottage in September and his second effort was a goal, so he should be confident of, at the very least, troubling Irons shot-stopper Alphonse Areola on Tuesday. With Rodrigo Muniz potentially ruled out, too, he may be given the full 90-plus again, heightening his chances of recording at least one shot on target.

Next up to get a shot on target is West Ham star Kudus, who had an effort saved by Aston Villa's Robin Olsen last Friday. The Ghanaian hasn't scored in his last four games with his last strike coming in the 1-1 draw with Brighton on December 21 but he's not been afraid to try his luck, racking up five shots against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium last time out in the Premier League and shooting twice against leaders Liverpool in the game beforehand.

The 24-year-old didn't trouble the goalkeeper with any of those seven efforts, yet his shots-on-target per game average is still at one for the season, showing that he has been a consistent shooter during the 2024/25 campaign as a whole. Like Jimenez, Kudus should play the majority, if not all, of Tuesday's game with Potter having few attackers to call upon, and that should help him to land his leg of this Price Boost with Betfred.

The final two selections are both about tackles with Irons duo Wan-Bissaka and Paqueta asked to make at least two on Tuesday. Both are big tacklers with Wan-Bissaka averaging 1.9 per game in the Premier League this season and Paqueta averaging 2.1 per game.

Wan-Bissake made three in September's reverse fixture at Craven Cottage where Paqueta was only a second-half substitute but both players are expected to start in midweek and should be sufficiently in the thick of the action to record at least two tackles each.

Offers

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