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It’s as happy a time as has been in years for West Ham United, who secured their fourth straight victory Saturday in defeating Premier League bottle dwellers Fulham 2-0 at Craven Cottage.
As the struggles continue for their crosstown rivals, the Hammers were so solid again on the afternoon and received goals again from Robert Snodgrass and Michail Antonio to continue a marvelous month of December.
Despite Fulham having quality through their side offensively, the Hammers were able to exploit their atrocious defense in the 17th minute, when Snodgrass made it back-to-back weeks of highlight goals for him with a terrific curling finish that Sergio Rico could only be helpless to watch. It was another standout moment in a great run of form for the Scot, who is unquestionably playing his best football with West Ham and showing the quality he displayed at Hull City.
And Manuel Pellegrini would see his side then take a 2-0 lead in the 29th minute, when Felipe Anderson continued his development into a Premier League force with a decent cross that Javier Hernandez redirected with his head to Michail Antonio, as the versatile winger showed fine touch to slot past Rico. It was the second game in three weeks for Antonio to score, and West Ham took that lead into the break.
Buoyed by a great display from captain Mark Noble in the midfield, as well as stable organization from Issa Diop and Fabian Balbuena, the Hammers saw their victory ensured in the end with comfort as Claudio Ranieri’s side never really tested them. This is West Ham’s first four game winning streak since a then Sam Allardyce’s lead team achieved the same feat in 2014.
And we’ll see if the Hammers can make it a magical five wins in a row, when they face off at home to begin the busy holiday period against Watford next week in the London Stadium. Domingos Quina, by the way, scored a terrific first goal for the Hornets, but that’s for another story today.