Nerves, Nerves, and More Nerves! West Ham Player Ratings

A nervous match capped off with injury-time madness sees West Ham collect all three points from the jaws of a draw. Here are the player ratings!

Too many times this season West Ham have caused sustained high heart rates and too tense for comfortable viewing finishes, and this game was no different. Clutching all three points from a potential draw twice fuelled some very different player ratings.

Lukasz Fabianski – 10/10: The West Ham keeper only had a few saves to make in this match, but a free opportunity in alone from Bobby De Cordova-Reid and a panenka of nightmares from Ademola Lookman were both saved relatively easy. Clean sheet.

Vladimir Coufal – 5/10: A rare poor match from one of West Ham’s Czech-mates, Coufal had a rough go on an overloaded right flank against Lookman and Antonee Robinson. He still managed to get a fair few crosses into the box and never stopped hustling.

Fabian Balbuena – 8/10: He had his usual moments of head-scratching decision making, but Balbuena quickly became the senior man at centre-back with Angelo Ogbonna going off injured. He also instigated the winning goal with a ball over the top to Benrahma. Solid outing.

Angelo Ogbonna – 7/10: The centrepiece of the Hammers’ backline pulled up lame forcing a 63rd-minute sub but the Italian defender was strong in his battle with Mitrovich for his shift. Hopefully, the injury isn’t too bad and he is back after the international break.

Aaron Cresswell – 8/10: He was caught marking Mitrovich a few times, which induced the heart rate even further, but he did well defending and was robbed of at least two goals and a couple of assists too. Heck of a renaissance season.

Arthur Masuaku – 7/10: The birthday boy almost had a wonderful present just a few minutes into the match but Alphonse Areola made a terrific save. He was tasked with unlocking the entire Fulham defence and actually did very well. He paired well with Benrahma, too.

Declan Rice – 7/10: The only marks on Declan Rice’s game today was some very unusual instances of the captain getting possession nicked off of him. He sat very deep in this match and pulled the strings, and was tidy and professional. The engine of the team.

Tomas Soucek – 8/10: The man with the golden goal to win it all, Soucek was a bit locked out of this match in the first half but popped up at the perfect time to nab the winner. Box to box, Soucek ran a marathon today and his effort levels create opportunities like the one that fell to him in the 91st minute of the match.

Jarrod Bowen – 6/10: On the precipice of the first-ever 10+ rating, Bowen was on the end of some bad luck chances that ended up saved or wide of the goal. Robinson locked him up pretty well, but the danger he created from range was stellar and oh-so-close to bulging the net.

Sebastien Haller – 7/10: Off the crossbar early and in the mix on the goal and near-miss from Fornals, Haller showed up in this match, albeit without getting on the scoresheet. Still, the service was there and the support from the midfield as well. Well on track to start producing.

Pablo Fornals – 6/10: Fornals was the instigator of a lot of early West Ham pressure in this match, but wasn’t able to push it over the line when the play broke down. Still, Fornals was solid but with Benrahma breathing down his neck the early sub made sense. Solid outing for him, too.

David Moyes was forced into an early sub of Angelo Ogbonna, but he was prepared to get Manuel Lanzini and Said Benrahma onto the pitch at the 60-minute mark and credit needs to be shown his way. Often criticized for leaving his subs too late, the manager got it right here.

Lanzini was hustling up and down the pitch and put in a good shift but Benrahma was a difference-maker in the end. He unselfishly passed the ball to Soucek on the winning goal and won two fouls in Fulham’s half just with his dribbling alone. It was a great home debut and a strong basis to kick off his West Ham career on.

The match was seemingly in hand despite none of the golden opportunities created actually going in for the opening 90 minutes. On a different day the Hammers are up 2-0 early and cruise to victory but that wouldn’t be the West Ham way, would it? All three points to the good guys and were on to Sheffield United.