Ryan Sessegnon and Rodrigo Muniz grabbed the goals as Fulham made history by beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 to clinch a first league victory at Molineux in almost forty years.

Sessegnon, making his first Premier League start since returning to Craven Cottage after five frustrating years at Spurs, opened the scoring after 58 seconds. He stepped into the shoes of the superb Antonee Robinson by latching onto Andreas Pereira’s through ball and firing clinically past Jose Sa into the far corner with the sort of unerring accuracy that accompanied his ascension to Fulham’s first team as a teenager nine years ago. A classy move began with Joachim Andersen picking out Muniz, who did brilliantly to hold the ball, and finished with the Roehampton starlet’s clinical finish.

Molineux was stunned into silence but Wolves are far from brittle under Vitor Pereira and the hosts soon hit back with Andre and Joao Gomes spurning good chances after Matheus Cunha had bamboozled the recalled Issa Diop. The home side drew level in the nineteenth minute when Jean-Ricner Bellegarde beat Timothy Castagne far too easily and hung up an excellent cross from the left that Fulham’s three centre halves failed to deal with and Gomes lashed into the net.

Cunha continued to dart into pockets of space behind Sander Berge and Sasa Lukic but the brilliant Brazilian was denied a goal of his own by Bernd Leno’s fingertips after he had worked space for shot on the left angle of the penalty area. Fulham were effective on the break with Adama Traore in fine fettle against his former employers. The Spaniard saw a venomous drive beaten away by Sa before was only prevented from restoring the Londoners’ lead by a brilliant block from Santiago Bueno.

But Wolves paid the price for sleeping immediately after the interval. It took just 62 seconds for Silva’s side to catch them cold again. Sessegnon supplied Traore, who threaded a lovely ball through the home defence for Muniz to lift a fine finish over the advancing Jose Sa. Silva’s rotation of a side that struggled to lay a glove on Crystal Palace on Saturday paid dividends as he introduced first-team regulars like Antonee Robinson, Calvin Bassey and Raul Jimenez from the bench to see Fulham through a period in the second half where Cunha could have wrestled back the initiative for Pereira’s charges.

The playmaker fired fractionally wide from 20 yards after Bellegarde had blasted a free-kick into the wall and then tested Leno from the rebound, but the hosts lacked a focal point up front until Jacob Strand Larsen emerged from the substitutes bench. Wolves enjoyed plenty of possession but couldn’t break down Fulham’s disciplined back three, with Jorge Cuenca excelling alongside Joachim Andersen and Diop.

Former Wolves favourite Jimenez spurned two chances to seal the three points for the Whites, being denied by a fine reaction save from Sa before shooting narrowly wide after brilliant bit of control in the box – but Silva’s tactical switches delivered both the reaction he wanted after Saturday’s sub-par showing and a precious three points to leave the Fulham faithful dreaming of a European tour once more.

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS (3-4-2-1): Sa; Doherty, Bueno (Sarabia 77), T. Gomes; Semedo, Ait-Nouri, Andre (Doyle 77), Bellegarde (Strand Larsen 65); J. Gomes, Cunha, Munetsi. Subs (not used): Johnstone, Pond, B. Traore, Lima, Mane, Djiga.

BOOKED: Bueno.

GOAL: J. Gomes (19).

FULHAM (3-4-2-1): Leno; Diop, Andersen, Cuenca (Bassey 76); Castagne, R. Sessegnon (A. Robinson 72), Berge, Lukic (Iwobi 67); Pereira, A. Traore (Willian 67); Muniz (Jimenez 72). Subs (not used): Benda, King, Reed, Cairney.

BOOKED: Lukic, Berge.

GOALS: R. Sessegnon (1), Muniz (47).

REFEREE: Peter Bankes (Merseyside).

ATTENDANCE: 28,708