Fulham 3-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
Winning two consecutive Premier League games may not sound too special. But last week's victory away to Manchester United and Saturday's win over Brighton & Hove Albion brought joy to Fulham fans after a winter of inconsistency.
Brighton sit in the top half of the table but have struggled in recent weeks. They looked dangerous in the first half but fortunately they wasted their chances.
Harry Wilson was in top form for the Whites and Rodrigo Muniz continued to impress. The two combined to put Fulham ahead in the 21st minute. Calvin Bassey's long range pass should have been intercepted but the Brazilian outmuscled Adam Webster and put his Welsh colleague in the clear. Wilson's curling shot was a masterpiece that left Jason Steele gasping.
Perfect team goal
Another goal followed swiftly. The collaboration of Bernd Leno, Harrison Reed and Andreas Pereira released Wilson once more and this time he provided a pinpoint cross for Muniz to head into the Brighton net.
'An almost perfect team goal' observed Marco Silva. I praised Jordan Pickford a few weeks ago and it was great to see Leno making the same positive contribution.
Between those two Fulham goals the TV cameras had spotted the substitutes Armando Broja and Willian looking slightly disconsolate that they were missing out on the fun (the latter having just returned from injury).
The visitors had much more of the ball in the first half but they remained wasteful. When their efforts were on target, they were met by a goalkeeper back to his best form.
During the half-time break the crowd applauded the announcement that Andreas Pereira had been picked for the Brazil squad. Lewis Dunk could certainly write a glowing testimonial.
The Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi made changes after the interval and Brighton looked more focused in the second half, but they failed to reduce the deficit.
Evan Ferguson came closest, sending one opportunity wide and then drawing an assured save from Leno. Then Facundo Buonanotte hit the post.
Adama Traore opens his Fulham account
Fulham had their share of missed opportunities. After more hustling by Muniz, Pereira rounded the goalkeeper but then over-elaborated and shot wide. Don't do that on international duty, Andreas.
The Albion were still plugging away in added time, only for Bobby DeCordova-Reid to rob Pascal Gross and present Adama Traore with a clear run-on goal. The former Wolves star opened his Fulham account with style. He and Bobby were extremely late substitutes and they made excellent use of their brief spell on the pitch.
Visiting fans were not too disheartened. They could still sing about going to Wembley (Fulham fans were singing that when they visited Brighton last season) and they could claim that their players had been distracted by the imminent visit to AS Roma in the Europa League.
Fulham's immediate aims are more modest - overtaking Chelsea, and moving into the top half of the table.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
