Goals from Emile Smith Rowe and Alex Iwobi guided Fulham to their first win of the Premier League season – but the Whites made heavy weather of what became a nervy victory over newly-promoted Leicester City at a rainswept Craven Cottage this afternoon.

Smith Rowe scored his first Fulham goal with a fabulous finish to a flowing move in the eighteenth minute and Marco Silva’s side looked in complete control until Leicester hit back from a set play. Wout Faes levelled for the visitors when he headed home Facundo Buonanotte’s fine corner at the back post – with the on-field decision to disallow the goal for offside against Jamie Vardy reversed by referee Darren Bond after consultation with the video assistant referee.

The hosts were by far the more dominant force but looked to have run of steam after Rodrigo Muniz missed a sitter just after the interval until Iwobi raced onto a searching ball down the left flank by Antonee Robinson and the Nigerian’s finish proved too powerful for Mads Hermansen to keep out. The Foxes pushed for a second equaliser but couldn’t create a clear-cut chance. The audible relief around an anxious Cottage showed just how far Steve Cooper’s side had stretched the Londoners.

Fulham fired eighteen shots at the Leicester goal and would have felt aggrieved had they not come away with three points. Just like at Old Trafford on Friday, Marco Silva’s side began on the front foot with the speedy Adama Traore bursting into the box and forcing a smart save from Hermansen at the near post inside four minutes. Traore turned provider shortly afterwards, cutting inside to pick out Iwobi but the winger’s finish was tame and easily held by the Leicester goalkeeper.

Former Fulham favourite Bobby De Cordova-Reid fired an early warning of the visitors’ intentions, with the Jamaican international picking up possession in a central position and bending a long-distance effort towards the bottom corner before Bernd Leno intervened to tip the effort behind. Leicester looked lively on the counter, but the home side dominated possession with the spritely Smith Rowe regularly popping up in dangerous positions.

Traore continued to terrorise the luckless Leicester left back Victor Kristiansen but it was another deft pass from the Spaniard that unlocked the Leicester defence. Traore left two defenders trailing in his wake before rolling a brilliant ball into the path of Smith Rowe who raced in goal and finished effortlessly, belying the fact that his last Premier League goal came two and half years ago. Fulham suddenly seemed rampant and Muniz might have made it two a couple of minutes later when he rose majestically at the far post but headed Robinson’s deep cross milimetres wide.

But when the Whites dropped their intensity – and Calvin Bassey misplaced a pass and Robinson conceded a corner – they were abruptly punished. Faes wriggled away from the attentions of Smith Rowe, Bassey and Muniz to head Buonanotte’s corner beyond Leno from inside the six yard box. The German goalkeeper was incensed, claiming that Vardy’s position in front of him, impeded his chances of making a save but the assistant refereee’s flag was eventually overruled.

Fulham, perhaps smarting from conceding a soft goal, began the second half with renewed vigour. They should have been ahead within five minutes when Faes, played into trouble by his goalkeeper, was robbed by Traore, who presented Muniz with an open goal eight yards out only for the Brazilian to blaze high into the Hammersmith End. Kenny Tete headed a corner wide and then Muniz attempted an ambitious bicycle kick that also flew well off target.

Silva sent on Tom Cairney and Harry Wilson as Fulham’s early flamboyance had faded and the Scottish playmaker played a part in the game’s decisive moment. He fed the rampaging Robinson down the left flank and the American’s first-time ball gave Iwobi a head start in a foot race against Harry Winks. He sped into the box and his beat Hermansen, although the Leciester goalkeeper might feel he should have done better in repelling the shot from the angle.

Both Andreas Pereira and Jordan Ayew wasted good opportunities from set plays in an anxious final ten minutes before Fulham managed the latter stages far more effectively than they had managed in Manchester. Cairney, perhaps learning from the way Bruno Fernandes had created the winner at Old Trafford, was cautioned for a sliding tackle in the middle of the park in the first minute of stoppage time as the Whites rather limped over the finish line.

FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete, A. Robinson, Diop, Bassey; Lukic, A. Pereira (Reed 86); Traore (Cairney 69), Iwobi, Smith Rowe (Wilson 69); Muniz (Jimenez 80). Subs (not used): Benda, Castagne, Cuenca, Sessegnon, Stansfield.

BOOKED: Wilson, Cairney.

GOALS: Smith Rowe (18), Iwobi (70).

LEICESTER CITY (3-4-3): Hermansen; Faes, Vestergaard, Justin; Kristiansen (McAteer 85), Ndidi, Winks, Fatawu, De Cordova-Reid (J. Ayew 63), Buonanotte (Skipp 71), Vardy (Mavididi 71). Subs (not used): Ward, Okoli, R. Pereira, Choudhury, Soumare.

BOOKED: Kristiansen, Vestergaard.

GOAL: Faes (39).

REFEREE: Darren Bond (Lancashire).

ATTENDANCE: 25,401