West Ham United Boosts Survival Hopes After Vital Win At Fulham

West Ham boosted their Premier League survival hopes with a 1-0 win at Fulham, secured by Crysencio Summerville, as Nuno Espirito Santo praised steady progress while Marco Silva admitted Fulham’s attacking display fell short during a night shaped by missed chances and a controversial VAR call.

Summerville struck his seventh goal in 10 appearances, settling a tight contest and lifting West Ham level on points with 17th-placed Nottingham Forest, keeping the visitors firmly in the fight to avoid relegation while leaving Fulham frustrated after failing to score in a home league match for the first time since October.

Nuno Espirito Santo stressed that West Ham’s level continues to rise despite recent setbacks, pointing to improved consistency across recent weeks and greater confidence within the squad, which now turns from this crucial league victory at Craven Cottage towards a demanding run that includes Brentford in the FA Cup and Manchester City in the league.

We are improving game by game,Nunotold TNT Sports. It can happen, games like Liverpool, but the confidence is there. The boys are working very hard, very committed, knowing that the situation that we are [in] doesn't change anything. We are focused on ourselves and keep going. We fight until the end, and it means a lot to us. It means a lot to our fans who were huge today for the help that they gave us.

Recent Premier League results highlight West Ham’s upward trend, with four wins in their last eight fixtures, alongside two draws and two defeats, surpassing the three victories collected across their opening 21 league matches, when they also recorded five draws and 13 losses during a far more difficult spell earlier in the campaign.

The Opta supercomputer still measures significant jeopardy for West Ham, assigning a 55.5% chance of finishing in the bottom three and a 44.4% likelihood of staying up, yet Nuno Espirito Santo views the current run as a base for belief before the upcoming FA Cup fifth-round tie with Brentford and the league trip to Manchester City.

{TABLE_1}

West Ham’s win came on a night when Fulham’s attack struggled badly, with Marco Silva’s team missing Harry Wilson and failing to convert pressure into clear chances, as Fulham went scoreless at Craven Cottage in the Premier League for the first time since a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in October, ending a 10-game home scoring streak.

That sequence had been Fulham’s best top-flight scoring stretch at home since a 13-game run that ended in January 2014, yet the hosts offered little cutting edge against West Ham, with the turning point arriving early in the second half when a penalty originally awarded for a foul on Tom Cairney by Valentin Castellanos was overturned by VAR.

We definitely didn't deserve much more from the game,he told BBC Sport. John Brooks with Fulham Football Club, he was on VAR and he was able to decide against the referee decision on the pitch. It is unbelievable. It has been a little bit the story of our season when John Brooks is involved with us. It was very unlucky again with the decision when he was not on the pitch, a decision that he took in the office looking for the decision.

Silva’s criticism of the VAR decision capped a disappointing evening for Fulham, whose lack of threat and frustration with officiating contrasted with West Ham’s resolve, as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side departed Craven Cottage encouraged by recent form, improved survival odds and growing belief ahead of a challenging schedule across league and cup.