West Ham 3-2 Fulham: Lucas Paqueta scores winner in five-goal thriller to hand Graham Potter dream start | OneFootball

Hammers secure huge win in London derby as Potter gets off to dream start

West Ham edged Fulham in a five-goal thriller to hand Graham Potter his first win as manager.

From there, the visitors continued to push. Antonee Robinson and Emile Smith Rowe both had efforts that went wide and despite all their pressure, the Cottagers never really tested Lukasz Fabianski.

The turning point in the first-half was the goal that wasn’t allowed to stand as Carlos Soler’s free-kick was brilliantly headed home by Max Kilman but the West Ham defender was in an offside position so his effort was, correctly, ruled out.

Two minutes and 10 seconds later it was 2-0. A flowing move involving Mohammed Kudus resulted in the ball being switched over to the right-hand side where Aaron Wan-Bissaka cut it back for Tomas Soucek to score.

But early in the second half the visitors pulled one back as Alex Iwobi floated a cross into the box looking for the run of Raul Jimenez who stuck a leg out as the ball flashed passed Fabianski.

Though Jimenez wheeled away in celebration, it didn’t seem he got a touch on the ball so that was Iwobi’s first of the night.

However, West Ham restored their two-goal lead with just under 20 minutes left as the usually-so-dependable Leno dallied on the ball only to be tackled by substitute Danny Ings and that allowed Lucas Paqueta to do the rest as he benefitted from an absolute gift.

That wasn’t to be the end of the scoring as Iwobi repeated the trick from earlier. His simple loft into the box was, this time, intended for Wilson who tried to get a touch - but didn’t - as Fulham got back to within one.

Adama Traore wasted a guilt-edged chance in injury time to rescue a point for Fulham as their eight-game unbeaten run came to an end as Potter celebrated a first win as West Ham boss.