West Ham 1 - 1 Fulham

West Ham are unbeaten in four games but there can be few other causes for optimism at Upton Park, as Avram Grant's side played out a laboured draw with Fulham. Frédéric Piquionne scored his second headed goal in as many games on an occasion more notable for Clint Dempsey repeating his World Cup moment by scoring past Rob Green.

Grant will wake up tomorrow morning with his side bottom of the Premier League. "Our spirit is better and our organisation is better," he said. "I think the most important thing [is] that we continue to take points and continue to improve but we need to do it in the right way. If you compare how we were at the start of the season then we can be happy."

Fulham, still unbeaten, have managed six draws from their opening seven games but breaking teams down has proved a problem, not least with Andy Johnson, Moussa Dembélé and Bobby Zamora injured. But the manager Mark Hughes sprung a surprise by dropping his ersatz forward Zoltan Gera in favour of Eddie Johnson, the American striker who was signed for £3m in January 2008 but had not started a league game since March in the same year.

One decent penalty appeal notwithstanding, it tended to show, his team lacking a focal point, and it was as much through luck as judgement that Fulham took the lead. Dempsey played the ball into Simon Davies on the right flank and, although the Welshman's shot on goal was blocked by Luis Boa Morte, the deflection completed an inadvertent one-two. Dempsey volleyed past Green at the near post.

Once again Green felt all eyes upon him. The erstwhile England keeper was not at fault for Dempsey's latest effort, indeed he was probably his side's best player, yet the memories of that awful night linger on.

However, goalscoring opportunities were scarce and the home crowd subdued. Five minutes into the second half they were bouncing again, though, when Victor Obinna seared past Carlos Salcido on the right flank and crossed for Piquionne to head home.

If the goal had not quite galvanised West Ham, then they creaked a lot less, and Carlton Cole spurned one fine chance to give his team the lead, seconds after his introduction.

The dynamism of Obinna and Piquionne's sure touch were never quite enough, however, with Brede Hangeland and Aaron Hughes providing a fine barrier in front of Mark Schwarzer.

Diomansy Kamara, a late substitute for Fulham, fired way over when clean through, and Green reacted well to deny Davies and Dickson Etuhu. "I'm pleased with the level of performance if not the result," Hughes said, claiming: "We should have had a penalty – there was a tangle of legs between Johnson and [Lars] Jacobsen.''

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