Lopetegui to assess Fullkrug as focus remains on trusting the process

Julen Lopetegui has refused to rule out Niclas Fullkrug’s involvement when West Ham return to Premier League action against Fulham on Saturday.

Fullkrug, who was signed from Borussia Dortmund during the transfer window, picked up an injury on international duty with Germany during their 5-0 win over Hungary, a game the 31-year-old scored in.

Lopetegui has picked up one win from his first three league fixtures at the helm, but the Spaniard says his side are still in the process of becoming the team he wants them to be.

"Let's see, he has a little problem, it was a pity,” Lopetegui said on Fullkrug. “But it's true that we will evaluate him too, today. 

“Yesterday we thought he was a little bit better, today we're going to see how he is exactly and tomorrow we are going to make the last decision about him.

"It's a process, and we have had 10 days here to work with the players. Unfortunately, a lot of them weren't here, so it's not easy, but we've done what we could.

“It's a quick turnaround now to Fulham, but we're putting all our focus on our next match."

Fulham, meanwhile, entered the international break off the back of a 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town at Portman Road, with the Cottagers sitting in 12th in the early-season table.

Marco Silva’s new-look squad showed signs during their encounter with the Tractor Boys that they are close to kicking into gear, having taken four points from their first three Premier League games.

While Silva acknowledged his players were forced to adopt a different style of play in their last fixture, he is confident they can continue their unbeaten run on home soil.

"Tough Premier League game, as always, against a side that you know are going to be really hard to play against,” Silva said. “We know it can be tough to play here because last season we played against them in a different competition with great support from the home crowd.

"We were solid in the second half, but not in the way that we like to play, not with that quality in our build up, and it was more difficult for us to create chances.

"It's a game, of course, that we wanted to win, we wanted the three points. We got one point, and we move on to prepare for the next one."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Fulham – Antonee Robinson

Since the start of last season, only Kieran Trippier (10) has more assists among defenders in the Premier League than Fulham’s Robinson (eight).

All eight have come in open play, with only Mohamed Salah (13), Brennan Johnson (10), and Anthony Elanga (nine) having a better 100% open-play assist rate in the division during that time.

West Ham – Jarrod Bowen

Bowen has nine Premier League goals away from home since the start of last season, with only Erling Haaland (16) and Ollie Watkins (10) netting more, while his only goal this term came away at Crystal Palace.

MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW

Fulham won both Premier League meetings with West Ham last season by an aggregate score of 7-0. They’ve not won three consecutive league games against the Hammers since between October 1965 and October 1966.

During his time in charge of the Cottagers, Everton and Watford, Silva has more Premier League wins against West Ham than any other side (P9 W6 L3), with the 17 goals his sides have scored against the Hammers in the competition also being his most.

Fulham have also lost only one of their four top-flight games that followed an international break last season (W2 D1), while West Ham lost three of their four such games in 2023-24 (W1). 

West Ham’s only win so far in the Premier League this season came away to Crystal Palace (2-0). They last won their opening two away league games of a season in 2015-16 (first three).

The Hammers have also won 16 of their 28 Premier League games against Fulham, their best win rate against any side they’ve faced at least five times in the competition (57%).

But so far this campaign, only Newcastle United (54) have faced more shots in the Premier League this season than West Ham (52), while their expected goals against total of 6.4 is also the second-highest, behind newly promoted Ipswich (6.9).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Fulham – 40%

Draw – 26.2%

West Ham – 33.8%