West Ham United 2-3 Fulham: Oscar Bobb's late winner settles a London derby

Fulham spent most of this Carabao Cup third-round tie with the ball and most of it chasing the scoreboard. West Ham United hit back twice at the London Stadium, but the visitors had one more answer. Oscar Bobb came off the bench, scored in the 78th minute, and Fulham went through 3-2.

Sky Sports called it a thrilling London derby, and the first half justified the label. Rodrigo Muniz headed Fulham in front in the 13th minute from a César Palacios assist. West Ham needed three minutes to reply: Konstantinos Mavropanos got the ball across and Morato headed in at 16'.

Palacios then moved from provider to scorer. Joachim Andersen set him up in the 37th minute to make it 2-1 to the visitors. West Ham drew level before the interval, Pablo scoring in the second minute of first-half stoppage time, so both teams went in at 2-2 with the tie wide open.

Goal by goal

1. 13' — Rodrigo Muniz (Fulham), header, assist César Palacios: 0-1
2. 16' — Morato (West Ham United), header, assist Konstantinos Mavropanos: 1-1
3. 37' — César Palacios (Fulham), assist Joachim Andersen: 1-2
4. 45+2' — Pablo (West Ham United): 2-2
5. 78' — Oscar Bobb (Fulham), assist Josh King: 2-3

The second half was cagier until Fulham's changes landed. Bobb was one of five substitutes Fulham used, and his goal came from a pass by another of them, Josh King. It was the only goal of the second half. West Ham sent on five replacements of their own, among them Jarrod Bowen, Valentín Castellanos and Manor Solomon, but could not find a third equaliser.

Fulham still had to hold on. Sky's account of the closing minutes has Timothy Castagne clearing off the line at 88', and Palacios missing a chance to make the win safer in stoppage time at 90+3'.

The numbers

Fulham put twice as many shots on target as the hosts, 6 to 3, on a day when the overall shot count was nearly even, 12 to 11. That gap in quality is the story of the table: the visitors completed 632 of 688 passes while West Ham managed 355 of 411.

Line-ups

• West Ham United (4-4-2): Finlay Herrick; Max Kilman, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Morato, Kyle Walker-Peters; Arne Engels, Lewis Orford, Mohamadou Kanté, Divine Mukasa; Joshua Ajala, Pablo. Used from the bench: Joël Piroe, Valentín Castellanos, Oliver Scarles, Jarrod Bowen, Manor Solomon.
• Fulham (4-2-3-1): Benjamin Lecomte; Jorge Cuenca, Joachim Andersen, Antonee Robinson, Timothy Castagne; Emile Smith Rowe, Hugo Larsson, Harrison Reed; Rodrigo Muniz, César Palacios, Kevin. Used from the bench: Manuel Ángel, Josh King, Gonzalo García, Oscar Bobb, Shea Charles.

Emile Smith Rowe's yellow card in the 68th minute was the only booking of the evening.

Two routes to round three

Both clubs arrived with cup form. West Ham beat Portsmouth 3-1 at home in the first round and then won 4-1 at Southampton in the second. Fulham came in a round later and beat AFC Wimbledon 3-0 at Craven Cottage on 27 August. West Ham had scored seven in two cup games before this one. They scored two more here and still went out.

Fulham's league season gives the win some context. This site's archive shows them losing their first three Premier League games, to Chelsea, Sunderland and Crystal Palace, before a 0-0 draw at Liverpool on 12 September, three days before this tie. A cup win in which they scored three was a welcome change.

Arbeloa's verdict

Fulham boss Alvaro Arbeloa was not entirely satisfied afterwards. "I'm still asking how we can concede these two goals," he said, adding: "We need to be a little bit more aggressive when we are defending." He also spoke about the youngsters in his squad: "We have so many young players with talent and we need to be patient with them."

What's next

Fulham go into the fourth round, where the bracket sends them to Crystal Palace at Craven Cottage on 28 October. They face Manchester United in the Premier League at home on 20 September first. West Ham's Carabao Cup run is over after three rounds.

As it turned out, the fourth-round tie did not follow this one's script: Palace won it 1-0. That ended Fulham's run, and it meant the quarter-finals would go ahead without either of the clubs in this derby.