West Ham United 2-3 Fulham: Carabao Cup Match Report

Cesar Palacios scored the next goal for Fulham after he took the long ball down from Joachim Andersen and clipped the ball around Finlay Herrick to make it 1-2 in the 37th minute. West Ham United made it 2-2 in the 45th+2 minute after a Kyle Walker-Peters cross into the penalty area was put in by Pablo from a back flick by Kante.

Fulham won the game 12 minutes from time when Oscar Bobb cut inside the penalty area and fired a left footed shot beyond Finlay Herrick to make it 3-2 in the 78th minute and the result stayed the same to the end as Fulham won through to the next round of the competition.

West Ham United came into this Carabao Cup 3rd Round Cup tie off the back of a 6-0 home win at the London Stadium over Wrexham on Friday night. Meanwhile Fulham came into the Cup tie off the back of a deserved 0-0 away draw against Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday.

Previously West Ham United beat Portsmouth 3-1 at home, Burnley away at Turf Moor drew 2-2 after being 0-2 up, lost at home to Charlton Athletic 1-2, drew 1-1 away at Watford at Vicarage Road, beat Southampton 4-1 away, beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-2 at home, Derby County 3-0 at home and won 3-2 away at Bolton Wanderers. They were top of the SKYBET Championship with four wins and two draws and a defeat with 14 points from 7 games.

Fulham came into the game off the back of a home defeat to Chelsea 2-3 on opening day of the season, a 3-0 home win against AFC Wimbledon, an away 0-1 defeat to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light and a home defeat 2-3 again this time to Crystal Palace.

West Ham United beat Portsmouth 3-1 at home in the 1st Round and then beat Southampton away at St Mary's 4-1 in the 2nd Round to set up the game with Fulham who they beat 2-0 at Wembley in the 1975 FA Cup Final. Memories of Alan Taylor's brace remain in the memories of all older West Ham United fans.

Fulham beat AFC Wimbledon 3-0 in the last round of the competition at Craven Cottage which was their only win in all competitions so far this campaign. The last three results between the two sides at the London Stadium were 0-1 to Fulham and 3-2 to West Ham United. The last game at Craven Cottage was on 4 March 2026 when West Ham United won 0-1.

West Ham United manager Nuno Espirito Santo started with a 4-4-2 formation with Finlay Herrick in goal then a back four of Kyle Walker-Peters, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Maximilian Kilman the captain and Morato then a four man midfield of Arne Engels, Lewis Orford, Mohamadou Kante and Divine Mukasa with Pablo and Josh Ajala up front.

Fulham manager Alvaro Arbeloa started with a 4-2-3-1 formation with Benjamin Lecomte in goal then a back four of Timothy Castagne, Joachim Andersen, Jorge Cuenca and Antonee Robinson then two holding midfielders in captain Harrison Reed and Hugo Larsson then three attacking midfielders in Kevin, Emile Smith Rowe and Cesar Palacios with Rodrigo Muniz up front.

West Ham United kicked off the first half after both sets of players stood to remember the former West Ham United goalkeeper Ludek Miklosko who had died earlier in the week. Fulham started well and took the early play to West Ham United and forced an early corner but it came to nothing.

Fulham looked good early in the game with Emile Smith Rowe, Harrison Reed, Antonee Robinson, Kevin, Cesar Palacios and Hugo Larsson supporting Rodrigo Muniz well when the visitors came forward.

Fulham opened the scoring through Rodrigo Muniz in the 13th minute after Antonee Robinson crossed into the West Ham United penalty area where Cesar Palacios crossed the ball into the six yard box and Rodrigo Muniz headed it in to make it 0-1 to the Cottagers.

West Ham United came back strongly forcing a free kick in a dangerous position in the 15th minute which resulted in a corner to the home side but Fulham only half cleared it and the ball was recycled to the back post where Konstantinos Mavropanos headed the ball into the six yard box where Morato headed in to make it 1-1 in the 16th minute.

In the 21st minute Cesar Palacios saw a right footed shot from 15 yards out saved by Finlay Herrick to deny Fulham a second goal. A Fulham free kick in the 23rd minute taken by Harrison Reed from out on the right flank into the Hammers penalty area was headed clear by Mavropanos.

Fulham were very strong when attacking down the left flank, with Antonee Robinson getting into dangerous positions and linking up well with Cesar Palacios. West Ham United were awarded a free kick on the edge of the Fulham penalty area after Divine Mukasa was fouled by Timothy Castagne in the 34th minute. The resultant free kick by Arne Engels was wasted with a poor effort high over the cross bar into the visiting Fulham fans on the lower tier.

Cesar Palacios was through on goal for Fulham in the 36th minute after an assist by Hugo Larsson but his effort went wide of the target.

Then he made up for that miss as a long ball through was collected by Cesar Palacios and he took the long ball down from Joachim Andersen and clipped the ball around Finlay Herrick to make it 1-2 in the 37th minute. West Ham United made it 2-2 in the 45th+2 minute after a Kyle Walker-Peters cross into the penalty area was put in by Pablo.

The teams went in level at 2-2 at half time. Fulham kicked off the second half at 2-2.

West Ham United manager Nuno Espirito Santo brought on Jarrod Bowen and Manor Solomon for Divine Mukasa and Josh Ajala in the 51st minute.

Fulham manager Alvaro Arbeloa brought on Manuel Angel and Shea Charles for Hugo Larsson and Harrison Reed in the 63rd minute.

Taty Castellanos came on for Pablo in the 64th minute with the score still 2-2 as the Hammers decided to add fresh legs.

Emile Smith Rowe was yellow carded in the 68th minute by referee Gavin Ward. Fulham made further changes in the 68th and 69th minutes with Emile Smith Rowe, Rodrigo Muniz and Kevin replaced by Josh King, Gonzalo Garcia and Oscar Bobb.

Fulham won the game 12 minutes from time when Oscar Bobb who had only been on the field for 10 minutes cut inside the penalty area and fired a left footed shot beyond Finlay Herrick to make it 3-2 in the 78th minute and the result stayed the same to the end as Fulham won through to the next round of the competition.

At 2-3 down West Ham United made two further changes with Morato and Lewis Orford replaced by Ollie Scarles and Joel Piroe in the 83rd minute to try to get back into the game with an equaliser but the goal did not come.

Fulham held on to win 3-2 and a place in the Carabao Cup 4th Round Cup draw which will be staged tomorrow evening.