Rodrigo Muniz continued his red-hot form by making one goal and scoring another as Fulham dampened Brighton and Hove Albion’s European ambitions with a comfortable 3-0 win at Craven Cottage this afternoon.
The Brazilian striker easily won his battle with Adam Webster and put his body on the line to put the Cottagers on course for an impressive victory. He flicked on Calvin Bassey’s forward ball by beating Webster in the air and then risked injury to head the loose ball towards Harry Wilson on the right flank. The Welsh winger had the time and space to cut inside and curl an outstanding opening goal around Jason Steele and into the far corner. The goal owed much to Muniz applying pressure on the Seagulls centre back – and, after Roberto de Zerbi’s side briefly threatened an equaliser as Adam Lallana and Julio Encisco failed to hit the target when well placed, the former Flamengo forward hit his fifth goal in as many matches to give the Whites some breathing space.
Sasa Lukic surged into Brighton territory before Harrison Reed found Wilson, who whipped in a brilliant inswinging cross that Muniz headed home having arced his run between the statuesque Brighton centre halves. Muniz’s goalscoring streak took him to the brink of the Brazilian squad that Andreas Pereira was recalled to last week – and he took the rapturous acclaim of the Cottage crowd.
Albion appeared enlivened by a pair of half-time changes, penning Fulham back from the off and winning a corner from which an unmarked Dunk couldn’t direct his header past Bernd Leno. But Fulham looked more incisive in the final third, with Wilson sprinting onto a clever lay off from Muniz only for the Welshman to drag his shot wide of the far post.
Muniz outmuscled Aaron Webster before pulling the ball back for Wilson, who saw a shot blocked beyond for a corner that saw Tosin Adarabioyo nod wide. Fulham should have been out of sight when Pereira pounced on a poor pass from Carlos Baleba but the attacking midfielder took an age to round Steele and fired past the angle of post and bar once he had regained his bearings.
Evan Ferguson looked every inch a striker short on confidence after going sixteen matches without a goal – wasting a glorious opportunity to reduce Brighton’s deficit when he latched onto a through ball by Lallana, screwing a shot badly wide as Leno looked to narrow the angle. Muniz was in the mood at the other end, surging away from the Albion back line before blasting into the side netting, before Wilson stretched to intercept Steele’s goal-kick setting up Pereira, who shot straight at the keeper.
Fulham had further chances as Antonee Robinson and Alex Iwobi linked up down the left, with the Nigerian international picking out Wilson in the middle, but Lewis Dunk arrived in the nick of time to block the shot. Brighton kept plugging away with Facundo Buonanotte hitting the base of the post and Ansu Fati being denied by Leno.
But the Seagulls were caught on the counter as they pushed forward in search of a lifeline. Bobby De Cordova-Reid was typically tenacious on his 200th Fulham outing, robbing Pascal Gross and playing in Adama Traore. The Spanish substitute sauntered through on goal and stroked a low finish past Steele and inside the far post.
Silva’s tactical masterclass to earn three points at Old Trafford took plenty of plaudits, but stitching together a comprehensive victory over Brighton from just 29 per cent possession is just as praiseworthy. The back-to-back wins have the Whites looking upwardly mobile again.
FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Leno; Castagne, A. Robinson, Adarabioyo, Bassey; Reed, Lukic (De Cordova-Reid 88); Wilson (Traore 84), Iwobi (Willian 69), Pereira (Cairney 69); Muniz (Broja 84). Subs (not used): Rodak, Tete, Ballo-Toure, Ream.
BOOKED: De Cordova-Reid.
GOALS: Wilson (21), Muniz (32), Traore (90+1).
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION (3-4-2-1): Steele; Veltman, Webster, Dunk (Gross 59); Lamptey (Andingra 45), Estupinan, van Hecke, Baleba (Moder 78); Enciso (Fati 45), Lallana (Buonanotte 59); Ferguson. Subs (not used): Verbruggen, Julio, Barco, Welbeck.
BOOKED: Baleba, Estupinan.
REFEREE: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire).
ATTENDANCE: 24,460
Another great win, we should have scored at least a couple more. Lukic again had a great outing, his positioning and tackling were exceptional. What a diffrence it makes to be able to call on players like Willian, Broja or Toure from the subsitute bench. I cannot stress enough what a great job is being done in recruitment. Tony Khan is given a lot if stick because he happens to be the son of the chairman, but truth is the players that arrived these last two seasons all gave a very important contribution. If we keep this form I believe we can match last season’s top half finish, and that would be a very good spring board for getting further quality next season.
Whoever does what in recruitment has (have?) done wonderfully well in the last three years. To the extent actually that I think tying down Muniz to a long contract is the single most important task for the club. He’s looking every bit as good as Mitroshit but without the attitude.
Tosin and Bassey as centre backs works best. Get a deal done urgently on Tosin before we lose him for free. Great performance today we could have scored six or seven.COYW
It seems that Tosin has made up his mind that he is so good that he will be playing Champions League football next season (read Tottenham). These were his words in an interview a couple of weeks ago. So as much as I would like him to stay, we must make contingency plans. I am sorry to say that Diop has a huge handicap in distribution, his defensive work is done well enough (excluding the odd lunge in the box leading to penalties) but as soon as he gets the ball in possession you can sense that the team gets jittery. A replacement for Tosin must be scouted.
It will be interesting to see what team is picked for the Wolves game, especially in midfield. It would be pretty harsh to drop Lukic to play Joao. However Lukic seems more of a number 8 than a 6 so maybe they could play together. But that would mean no place for either Reed or TC. Still,a nice problem to have. Wilson has pretty much made himself undroppable, as has Iwobi. So where does Willian play? Maybe it is time to play Iwobi instead of Perreira at number 10, with Willian back on the left and taking the set pieces if TC is not playing.
However in Marco we trust. COYW.
Let’s enjoy the moment…COYW