Pereira doubles Fulham's victory and damages West Ham's European hopes | first division

If David Moyes was looking for an enthusiastic performance from West Ham to instill hopes of mounting a Europa League comeback against Bayer Leverkusen There was no sign of encouragement during this crushing defeat to Fulham.

A bright start from West Ham did not translate into a goal and Andreas Pereira exposed a defensive error to make the breakthrough. Fulham took control of the match (his dangerous attacks were rewarded with another finish from the Brazilian) to crush the hosts and weaken their prospects of qualifying for European football again next season.

West Ham must overturn a two-goal deficit against Leverkusen on Thursday night, but this weak defeat offers no evidence to suggest they are capable of delivering another famous European night.

Moyes said: “I'm gutted because it was a great opportunity to finish sixth. But we gave the ball away in midfield and that opened us up and we were punished.”

On their chances of beating Leverkusen in the second leg, the West Ham boss said: “Miracle is a strong word. But we will have to play very well. We didn't have our shooting boots today. We are going to need our scorers to give their best.”

West Ham started with purpose and should have scored the first goal within the first four minutes after Bernd Leno saved Vladimir Coufal's attempt and Michail Antonio struck the ball from close range.

There were no initial signs of fatigue after his midweek exploits in Leverkusen and Mohammed Kudus fired from the right edge of the area just missing Leno's far post. The initial dominance continued with a half volley from Lucas Paquetá that crashed into the side of the net.

Fulham had barely left their own half, but they punished West Ham mercilessly after taking advantage of a defensive error. A hopeful clearance by Alex Iwobi in the penalty area was not cleared by Konstantinos Mavropanos, the defender's strong touch passed the ball to Pereira and the Brazilian midfielder rounded Lukasz Fabianski to touch the empty goal.

Buoyed by the advance, Fulham almost doubled their lead with Willian breaking away down the left wing and his cross was deflected by the goalscorer. Pereira was about to hit again, but his powerful shot was stopped by Fabianski. At the other end, Coufal found himself in a good position on the edge of the area, but the defender's half-volley went wide of the goal.

Fulham looked increasingly comfortable with their lead and, after a period of possession, midfielder João Palhinha shot from outside the area just past Fabianski's far post. Willian then forced Fabianski into a save from a tight angle as Fulham looked for a second goal before the break. Rodrigo Muñiz almost extended the lead after grabbing the ball, but his low shot lacked power and Fabianski saved the shot.

Fulham, now in 12th place, almost scored again at the start of the second half with a cheeky move from Muniz that forced Fabianski into another save. Willian, who was so often at the center of Fulham's counter-attacks, raced towards goal before offloading to Iwobi and his powerful shot was superbly pushed around the post by Fabianski.

West Ham's attacks were increasingly scarce but Paquetá's header after a corner kick was blocked by Leno. The ball finally reached Danny Ings, but he volleyed uselessly over the bar.

Fulham doubled their lead when Pereira again punished West Ham's porous defence. Iwobi advanced the ball for the unmarked midfielder to finish with his side foot from close range. Pereira had scored just once this season before this match, but the Brazilian's double He increased his haul to three goals in his last two games for Fulham at the London Stadium.

Fulham manager Marco Silva said: “It was a great win for us. Honestly, we deserved the three points. West Ham started better than us, but after scoring the first goal we started to control the game and regained confidence.”

There were 11 minutes of stoppage time, after a long delay to bring off debutant West Ham midfielder George Earthy, 19, with a head injury.

Moyes said: “I'm really disappointed for George. He is doing very well in training and in the under-21 team. He started very well with the ball. He's fine. We think it's a blow to the head. He is awake, he has gone to the hospital but we believe he is fine.”