How Does West Ham Compare To Fulham This Season?

West Ham as a football club have officially lodged a complaint to the Premier League over Fulham fielding a weakened team against Hull City on March 27, 2010. Fulham lost that game at the Kingston Stadium 2-0 to Iain Dowie's Hull which put them level on points with the Hammers.

The question I want to ask is how does the West Ham squad compare with the Fulham squad as a whole? This is my assessment of West Ham against Fulham's squad this season.

Goalkeeping:

Rob Green (WHU) is an England international and quite possibly England's no. 1 in the World Cup.

Mark Schwarzer (FUL) is Australia's no. 1 and will also be in the World Cup this summer.

Not much difference between the two in terms of goalkeeping strengths.

Defence:

James Tomkins, Matt Upson, Danny Gabbidon, Jon Spector, Julien Faubert, Ilunga, Daprela (WHU) - All internationals. However, Spector and Faubert are suspect defensively and the fullback area is the weakest part of West Ham's squad. The right fullback position sorely need reinforcements. Gabbidon looks past his best, and strangely, Upson does as well.

Chris Smalling, Hangeland, Konchesky, Aaron Hughes, Shorey, Baird, Pantsil (FUL) - Smalling is the best young defender in England without a doubt. Fulham's defenders have the edge as they have the defensive toughness and the experience of top-flight Premiership football.

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West Ham Down And Out?

Everything that need to be said has been said. Everything that need to be analysed has been analysed. And there are just no more excuses left. Gold & Sullivan had done their ownership part and tried to give the club's playing staff a kick up the backside. They have tried to put fire under the manager's and players' bellies in order to give them that motivation and desire to succeed in a relegation scrap. Unfortunately all that is in vain and the efforts have been futile.

Five successive losses were hard to take, especially losing to Wolves. That opening day away win must have felt totally unreal after that loss. It gets worse. Having that streak extended to six against Stoke has really knocked the stuffing out of the fans, players, managers and owners alike. The morale in the team must be feeling like a morgue right now.

And so three high profile striker signings on, West Ham are still within the spectre of relegation. The worst thing is the nagging feeling that West Ham will never get themselves out of this slump.

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