1. Back at home
Eighty-four days after playing our final home game of the 2024/25 Premier League season, we were back at London Stadium.
Sam Fender, Iron Maiden and some of the world’s top athletes have all performed at our home ground over the summer, but football was centre-stage again on Saturday.
Just over 21,000 supporters made their way to E20, including a small but passionate group of LOSC Lille fans, to cheer their teams on, and they were treated to an entertaining 90 minutes and a penalty shootout that ultimately concluded with a West Ham United win.
There were good vibes everywhere on a warm and sunny afternoon in east London.
2. Fülle feeling fit
Niclas Füllkrug would be the first to admit his first season with West Ham United did not go to plan.
Injuries to his Achilles tendon and hamstring restricted the Germany international to 20 appearances, three goals and two assists in Claret and Blue.
Fülle has enjoyed a full pre-season, however, and is looking fit, sharp and strong with a week to go before the 2025/26 Premier League campaign gets underway, scoring against Everton in Chicago, AFC Bournemouth in Atlanta and LOSC Lille in London.
The 32-year-old, who has been the heart and soul of the squad in Germany, the United States and at Rush Green, made it three goals in three consecutive pre-season matches by finishing Tomáš Souček’s low cross with just three minutes remaining.
With his partnership with Jarrod Bowen – who has two goals and two assists in five pre-season matches himself – growing, the feelings are positive as the Hammers prepare to kick-off the new season in Sunderland.
3. Freddie, steady, go
It is sometimes hard to believe that Freddie Potts is still just 21 years old.
The Academy of Football graduate has been with West Ham United for 15 years, and made his first-team debut in a UEFA Europa League group-stage tie with Dinamo Zagreb in December 2021, when he was aged only 18 years and three months.
Since then, Potts has been part of West Ham’s 2023 UEFA Europa Conference League-winning squad and played 80 senior games during loan spells at Wycombe Wanderers in EFL League One and Portsmouth in the Championship.
Throughout those two spells, and his 15 years at the Club, though, Potts has maintained the ambition to become a first-team starter here, for the same West Ham his father Steve and brother Dan played for previously.
Having put in a huge amount of work, and been relentlessly professional, Potts is now on the cusp of fulfilling that ambition. He has started each of West Ham’s final three pre-season matches in the heart of the midfield, and would dearly love to do so again at Sunderland when West Ham kick-off the Premier League season there on Saturday.
4. Welcome Mads!
Every West Ham United supporter was sad to see Łukasz Fabiański depart the Club after seven memorable seasons in the summer.
The 40-year-old Pole had developed a close relationship with the Claret and Blue Army, winning a Hammer of the Year award and playing a big role in the Hammers’ success in the Premier League and European competitions in recent years. However, it was decided that Fabiański would leave when his contract expired and the stopper bid a tearful farewell.
Into his place in the squad has come a man 15 years his junior, Mads Hermansen.
The Dane served his apprenticeship at Brøndby IF in his homeland before catching the eye helping Leicester City win promotion to the Premier League in 2023/24, then battle to stay there in 2024/25.
Filling Fabiański’s gloves will be a big act to follow. However, Hermansen is his own goalkeeper, has shown his qualities and will now seek to forge his own career in east London.
He received a warm welcome at London Stadium ahead of kick-off on Saturday, and will now challenge Alphonse Areola and Wes Foderingham for a place in Graham Potter’s Premier League team.
