Harry Wilson as soon as once more helped Fulham to come back from behind to beat Brentford at Craven Cottage with the hosts’ 3-1 victory establishing a second win in every week.
Wilson’s injury-time double had secured victory in the identical fixture final season however he was solely wanted as soon as this time round, firing residence Alex Iwobi’s wonderful slide-rule go to offer the Cottagers a 2-1 lead.
For the third season in a row Brentford had struck first at Fulham, with a big serving to hand from 18-year-old Josh King whose blind go gifted the ball to Mikkel Damsgaard – although he nonetheless needed to beat Bernd Leno with a wise end.
Brentford’s defending for Fulham’s equaliser ran that mistake shut as Nathan Collins made a large number of clearing a deflected shot, earlier than Iwobi stepped in to hammer residence the unfastened ball, 98 seconds earlier than Wilson’s strike turned the sport on its head.
Neither defensive coach would have felt notably content material come full-time however there was worse nonetheless to come back, as Keith Andrews’ half-time group discuss went up in smoke 5 minutes after the restart when Ethan Pinnock headed previous Caoimhin Kelleher for Fulham’s third.
“When your luck is out, it’s out,” mentioned Sky Sports activities’ Rob Inexperienced. “He does not have time to duck, he does not have time to get out of the way in which.”
Brentford continued to play their half however endured a toothless night in opposition to their rivals, whereas the Cottagers thought they have been out of sight on the hour as Rodrigo Muniz powered residence a fourth, although he was denied by VAR after leaving Collins with a bloody nostril within the build-up.
It mattered little as Fulham comfortably held on to double their win tally in seven days, with Brentford’s seek for a primary level on the highway ongoing.
Iwobi: We labored to counter Brentford’s long-throw hazard
Fulham’s Alex Iwobi to Sky Sports activities:
“We knew that Brentford are excellent at lengthy throws, so we labored on loads of lengthy throws in coaching this week. We have been principally engaged on the second balls and reacting to them, so we have been in a position to stand up to that, which was the primary risk right this moment.
“You do not know the place it will land, so we have been actually working all week on second balls, however credit score to our defenders, they have been in a position to head away the primary balls and clear it from the penalty field.”
Evaluation: Fulham hit their stride as Bees toil on highway once more
Sky Sports activities’ Ron Walker at Craven Cottage:
“After such a dour efficiency in opposition to Leeds final weekend, it was curious that Marco Silva selected to not use any of the substitutes – let’s be sincere, Kevin, who spurred them to victory late on in that sport – to begin in opposition to Brentford.
“Perhaps that is why he is the Premier League head coach, as a result of after every week of seeing his facet on the coaching floor he was completely proper to maintain religion that they’d discover their power and creativity once more.
“He mentioned this week their ambitions wouldn’t be dimmed by a tough switch window, with solely Aston Villa spending much less, however assets do make a distinction.
“This was a well timed reminder of the expertise that continues to be at Craven Cottage, and that is with out their tough new Brazilian, or fellow new arrival Samuel Chukwueze who was an unused substitute.
“Particular credit score to Josh King, who was unusually quiet in his final sport and gave away Brentford’s opener on this one, however went on to drive the hosts ahead earlier than he was withdrawn.
“However for the Bees, for the second season in a row their residence and away kind is evening and day. ‘Clearly, we have to tackle that,’ admitted Keith Andrews – although he insisted: ‘I did not really feel any of it coming into the sport, the gamers got here in with a very good mindset.'”
