West Ham teenager George Earthy was taken to hospital after suffering a horror head injury just two minutes into his Premier League debut.
The 19-year-old had just come on as a substitute when he collided with team-mate Edson Alvarez in the middle of the field.
Earthy fell to the ground awkwardly and appeared to have been knocked out cold, sparking worrying scenes as medics and team-mates rushed to help the stricken youngster.
After receiving treatment for eight minutes, Earthy was carried off on a stretcher. He was conscious when he was taken out of the London Stadium in an ambulance around 20 minutes after full-time.
The Hammers said: “West Ham United can confirm George Earthy will undergo an assessment in a London hospital this evening following the incident which saw him stretchered off during today’s Premier League fixture against Fulham.
“The midfielder – who entered the field as a second half substitute to make his Premier League debut against the Cottagers – was taken off in stoppage time.”
Manager David Moyes said: “I am really disappointed for George. He has been doing really well in training, done really well for the Under-21s.
“He started well with the ball, had some really nice touches. He is fine. It is a head knock. He is awake and has gone to hospital, we think he is OK at the moment. We all thought he had been knocked out but I don’t know any more.”
The incident overshadowed a 2-0 victory for Fulham courtesy of two goals from Andreas Pereira.
It was a second blow to West Ham’s European hopes in the space of four days, following Thursday night’s 2-0 Europa League first-leg defeat at Bayer Leverkusen, as a win would have lifted them to sixth.
“I thought we started well and should have been one or two goals up before they scored,” added Moyes.
“We were caught out by a long ball, we didn’t deal with it well. And we missed some opportunities to score as well. I think we dominated possession, kept the ball and passed it quite well. But we got done on the counter-attack.
“I’m gutted, today was a great chance to go sixth with five games to go, what a great position to be in.”
For Fulham it was a first win in four matches, and a first at West Ham since 2001.
Boss Marco Silva said: “Great win for us, well played from ourselves and to be honest we deserved the three points.
“West Ham had a good chance to score but after that, we scored the first goal and started to control the game. Overall we scored twice but created more chances to score as well.
“I think we were solid, compact and kept our concentration. We should have scored more goals to be even more comfortable.”
Tottenham shot themselves in the foot, says Postecoglou after Bournemouth loss
Ange Postecoglou claimed Tottenham were masters of their own downfall in their 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth in the Premier League.
Dean Huijsen headed home the only goal of the game from a corner in the 17th minute to inflict a sixth defeat of the season on Postecoglou's Spurs, who ended with an xG of only 0.58 despite having more than 65% possession.
Indeed, Bournemouth had 21 shots and saw two goals disallowed for offside, albeit Spurs also had a would-be equaliser ruled out when Son Heung-min was flagged.
But after his team followed up a disappointing home draw against Fulham with a toothless display on the south coast, Postecoglou did not hide his frustration.
"It is not good enough. We again fell into the trap of starting the game really well, we were in control, and then we conceded a really poor goal," Postecoglou told Amazon Prime, after a defeat that pushed Tottenham into 10th place with 20 points from 14 games.
"Then we kind of lost our way a little bit and allowed Bournemouth to play the game that they wanted to. We had our moments in the second half, but we could not get a goal.
"I don't know if they had more urgency, but we have this sort of propensity to shoot ourselves in the foot when we should be controlling games."
Bournemouth, meanwhile, climbed into the top half of the table with their fourth win in five matches at the Vitality Stadium.
"Bournemouth are hard to beat here and what you should not do is give them a goal that gives them the momentum they need," the Tottenham head coach said.
Spurs will next face second-placed Chelsea, who are unbeaten in their last six league games, at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.
"They are all big games coming up. We have to get ourselves out of the space we are in at the minute where we can't get a real grip on the season," Postecoglou said.
Meanwhile, Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola was full of praise for 19-year-old Huijsen, who had made his third league start of the season in place of Marcos Senesi.
"He was very, very good defensively and he got the goal. Obviously, we can use his height in the set plays. He is confident on the ball too. He is good news for us," said the Spanish tactician.
"He needs and is demanding opportunities and I think he will get them more now. Marco [Senesi] is injured, so he will get the chance more and more. It is good for us that he has found the level."
Huijsen became Bournemouth’s youngest-ever goalscorer in the Premier League at 19 years and 235 days and the third-youngest Spaniard, after Cesc Fabregas and Stefan Bajcetic.
"Our defensive performance was most pleasing. We did not give them many chances at all. Everyone defensively was very good," Iraola said.
"Luckily we finished the job, but there were moments when we thought that if we did not kill them they would punish us," he added.
Bournemouth are next in action against Ipswich Town at Portman Road on Sunday.
Bournemouth 1-0 Tottenham: Huijsen downs sorry Spurs
Bournemouth moved into the top half of the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Tottenham at the Vitality Stadium.
Dean Huijsen scored the decisive goal in the 17th minute when the Spurs defence allowed the 19-year-old defender to head in unmarked from a Marcus Tavernier corner.
The hosts had the chance to put the game to bed in the second half as Ryan Christie was denied by the woodwork and an Evanilson goal was disallowed for offside following a VAR review.
Tottenham were unable to make meaningful inroads throughout the first half and despite their performance picking up after the break, the visitors failed to find a way back and fell to their sixth league defeat of the season.
Bournemouth leapfrogged their opponents into ninth place on 21 points, while Tottenham dropped to 10th, one point behind the Cherries.
Data Debrief: Home comforts for Bournemouth
Andoni Iraola's Bournemouth have now won four of their last five games at their home ground. What makes their home form even more impressive is the fact that they have beaten Arsenal 2-0 and champions Manchester City 2-1 during that run.
On Thursday, the Cherries attempted 21 shots, which was their highest total in a league match this season.
They only scored one, but it proved decisive. Huijsen became Bournemouth’s youngest-ever goalscorer in the Premier League at 19 years and 235 days and the third-youngest Spaniard, after Cesc Fabregas and Stefan Bajcetic.
Meanwhile, Spurs have now lost seven of their last 11 away games in the league (W3 D1), as Ange Postecoglou's team, who had a goal disallowed for offside in the second half, failed to show anywhere close to their best form.
Lazio 3-1 Napoli: Noslin hat-trick fires Biancocelesti into Coppa Italia quarter-finals
Tijjani Noslin's hat-trick booked Lazio's place in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals following a 3-1 victory over Napoli.
The Dutch forward's first treble of his career proved decisive at Stadio Olimpico, where Giovanni Simeone's strike proved nothing more than a consolation for the visitors.
Lazio were awarded a penalty in the 20th minute after Elia Caprile brought down Pedro, but the Napoli goalkeeper redeemed himself with a smart save to deny Mattia Zaccagni from 12 yards.
Nevertheless, the hosts broke through in the 32nd minute. Samuel Gigot headed Loum Tchaouna's deep centre back across goal for Noslin to nod home.
Simeone brought Napoli level four minutes later, tucking away a rebound after Christos Mandas could only parry David Neres' initial effort.
However, Noslin put Lazio back in front within five minutes after Pedro cushioned a cross neatly into his path, before completing his hat-trick early in the second half when heading home Zaccagni's centre.
Data Debrief: Another last-16 exit for Partenopei
Lazio are through to the Coppa Italia quarter-finals for a 14th consecutive season, after Noslin stole the show in Rome.
The Dutchman had never previously in his career scored two goals in the same match, let alone three.
Meanwhile, Napoli have now won just one of their last six away games in the Coppa Italia, and have exited the tournament at this stage in each of the last four seasons.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
