If West Ham stay up in May, their scrapbook will be filled with photos of Crysencio Summerville smiling. Forget the photos of regret that were beginning to fill tonight’s page. The winger has every reason to beam.
Here, after a largely anonymous 65 minutes, the Dutchman turned up with his Sharpie and scribbled his name into the mist shrouding Craven Cottage. This was his night.
How much bottle do you have, Spurs and Forest? West Ham are now level on points with the latter and their current performances are only pointing upwards – though they remain in the bottom three for now.
This was their first win in four, but their fourth in the last eight. It was their third clean sheet in five games – a remarkable turnaround for the league’s second-worst defence – and their first victory over a top-half team in 15 attempts. At this rate, and with displays like this, they will be toasting salvation come the end of the season.
Crysencio Summerville struck a pivotal winner as West Ham’s charge to safety continued
The Hammers are now level on points with Nottingham Forest and their performances are only pointing upwards
Summerville shines again
The Summerville show is back on. This was the Summerville of a few weeks back, who scored in four consecutive Premier League games and had us wondering if anyone could stop him.
This wasn’t the Dutchman’s loudest night, but he stepped up when it mattered.
It was, in truth, beginning to look like West Ham had got lost on the banks of the River Thames this evening. Jarrod Bowen might have had a hat-trick. Taty Castellanos went close. Callum Wilson and Tomas Soucek will have had nightmares about both missing the ball at the back post. Until Summerville bailed them out, that is.
Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno marked his 34th birthday with an almighty muddle with Calvin Bassey, and West Ham punished them. Bowen did brilliantly to slide the ball to Summerville, who still had work to do and held his nerve.
Not only can he save West Ham – he’s making an increasingly persuasive case for a seat on the Netherlands’ World Cup plane.
Fulham boss Silva could only shrug. ‘[It was] much more difficult with the time to react to go again,’ he said. ‘We lost a game that we shouldn’t have lost.’
Disasi a shrewd signing
Axel Disasi has been an inspired loan signing. West Ham needed a deal sheet to get it done on deadline day, and if we were still using fax machines, you fear he’d still be in Chelsea’s basement or wherever Enzo Maresca had locked him and his fellow castaways.
He was assertive again here, snuffing out Raul Jimenez and doing well to defuse Josh King’s explosive runs. He hadn’t played for nine months before joining but he looks as sharp as a Gillette razor – the best West Ham can get.
The main plus for West Ham is how he puts his body on the line. At one point he went tumbling over the advertising hoardings after a fierce battle with Jimenez; on the stroke of half-time he took a free-kick in the face from the Mexican. He’s clearly not just here for a pay check. He’s on a mission to save West Ham and his own Premier League career.
Axel Disasi put his body on the line and produced another solid defensive showing
Nuno Espirito Santo twisted the dial on the time machine and took us back to the 1990s with a 4-4-2. Rather than look rigid and obsolete, it suited the Hammers to a tee.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Bowen had a ball overlapping and underlapping on the right flank, whipping in crosses.
A major criticism of the formation is that it leaves the midfield outnumbered against three-man systems, but Taty Castellanos and Wilson were industrious tracking back, so they got away with it.
It’s testament to their improving organisation that West Ham yet another clean sheet. The Hammers have conceded more than everyone besides Burnley and thrown away more points from winning positions than anyone else, but they were well-drilled here. Jean-Clair Todibo recorded nine clearances. Wan-Bissaka added seven. No-nonsense was the name of the game and it worked.
‘We’ve been more resilient and more organised. Our defensive organisation has been strong enough to allow players to press. We are improving slowly,’ said Nuno.