A brilliant brace from Alex Iwobi helped Fulham record an impressive victory over in-form Brighton and Hove Albion at Craven Cottage tonight and leap up to sixth in the Premier League table.
The Nigerian international, arguably in the form of his life after Marco Silva brought him back to London from his former club Everton, capitalised on a poor pass out from the back by Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen to score a predatory opener with just three minutes on the clock. Although the Albion custodian took a huge risk by trying to find Carlos Baleba on the edge of his own box, Iwobi took the goal superbly by slotting a composed finish into the unguarded net despite the desperate dive of Lewis Dunk.
Iwobi would have been frustrated not to add a second moments later when he surged onto a fine headed flick from the recalled Rodrigo Muniz, but he was denied by a brilliant bit of defending from Igor Julio as the ex-Arsenal midfielder prepared to pull the trigger. Brighton gradually got their fluent passing game going and carved out a couple of good chances. Bernd Leno spread himself well to thwart João Pedro after the striker had surged onto a lovely through ball from Jan Paul van Hecke. The yellow shirts swarmed forward with purpose but Calvin Bassey bravely blocked shots from Baleba and João Pedro before Leno made a brilliant block to prevent Simon Adingra from converting a clever cut back from Kaoru Mitoma.
Fulham suddenly looked more likely to score either from a set play or a counter attack. Muniz placed a header wide from Harry Wilson’s left-wing corner and the young Brazilian soared superbly to nod wide from Antonee Robinson’s cross in first half stoppage time. Albion were sloppy at the start of the second half as well, with Wilson shooting wide when a fine forward ball from Iwobi landed at the Welshman’s feet.
But Brighton hauled themselves back into the contest. van Hecke looped a header slightly over the crossbar from an inviting O’Riley corner, but the visitors soon found themselves level through a wonderfully worked goal. For all of the visitors’ lovely short passing, the equaliser owed a fair bit to a long punt forward from van Hecke. Joao Pedro fabulously flicked the ball into the path of the onrushing Baleba, who lashed a low left-footed finish beyond Leno from the edge of the area into the bottom corner of the net.
Silva shuffled his pack by removing the ineffective Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson, whose hamstring had popped just as he sought to beat Dunk for pace down the left flank. Andreas Pereira came off the bench to have a telling impact, which might prove timely after his flirting with a move to Marseille over the past week, after his fellow substitute Adama Traore’s powerful run won a corner. The Brazilian’s corner was floated towards the near post where former Fulham midfielder O’Riley unfortunately diverted the ball past his own goalkeeper and into the Hammersmith End net as the Dane was possibly distracted by the presence of Issa Diop. Dunk earned a booking for his protests that the French defender had pushed him in the back.
Fulham didn’t rest on their laurels, with their energy levels boosted by the introduction of Josh King, who produced an eye-catching cameo on his Premier League debut. The teenager found himself involved in the move that led to the third goal; when Robinson played a pass into the path of Iwobi, whose dancing feet engineered a couple of yards the area, beating two Brighton defenders before bending a fine finish beyond Verbruggen’s grasp and into the bottom corner.
FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Leno; Castagne, A. Robinson, Diop, Bassey; Berge (Cuenca 90+1), Iwobi; Wilson (King 80), Nelson (Traore 71), Smith Rowe (Pereira 71); Muniz (Jimenez 80). Subs (not used): Benda, Tete, R. Sessegnon, Vinicius.
BOOKED: Berge, Pereira.
GOALS: Iwobi (3, 87), O’Riley (o.g. 79).
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION (3-4-2-1): Verbruggen; van Hecke (Lamptey 72), Dunk, Igor Julio; Adringa (Minteh 80), Baleba, Wieffer (Gruda 86), Estupinan; O’Riley (Rutter 81), Mitoma; Joao Pedro (Ferguson 80). Subs (not used): Steele, Ayari, McConville, Moder.
BOOKED: van Hecke, Dunk.
GOAL: Baleba (56).
REFEREE: Peter Bankes (Merseyside).
ATTENDANCE: 26,368.
Some of the football we have played in games this season has been scintillating. Unfortunately, this wasn’t one of those games as we seem disjointed and imbalanced throughout.
But that’s okay.
I would rather we came up flat tonight and produce something special against Arsenal rather than the opposite.
To take all 3 points on a night when we weren’t at our best indicates that there is more substance to this team than in previous seasons.
Shame that Nelson will miss the Arsenal game through injury but, in all probability, he would have been ineligible anyway.
Time for Smith Rowe and Alex Iwobi to show Arsenal what they are missing.
We were lucky tonight !! Brighton totally dominated the game,especially the midfield and rode our luck by Leno!!.The second half was better and with tough games coming up it was vital we got this points!!.I will take it !!!!
Those who are saying that we were lucky and played badly yesterday seem to not have noticed that we went in front at the very beginning of the match, that we were pressing very purposefully as a unit letting them have a lot of sterile possession in their own half, that we were playing a team which had lost just two matches all season. I believe we were very pragmatic, the players run a lot for each other and Brighton found it very difficult to play their usual game. Silva’s game plan was executed to perfection and the result tells the story of 3 well played goals. Brighton can never beat us!
EMS ? Remains the invisible man. Is he lacking confidence or what ? A few spurts here and there and nothing rest of the game . AP gets stick but everyone loves EMS but thier contributions could not be further apart . Silva is a miracle man rejuvenating players , just hoping that EMS is simply taking a longer than usual .
I saw O’Riley as a youngster playing for Fulham in one of his rare games in the first team. He looked good then. Knew he would score for us eventually!
Seemed like a game of two halves. Brighton were definitely the better team in the first half and were unlucky to go in a goal down. However I thought we played the better football in the second half and just about deserved to win. They must be sick of playing us! Good to see Josh King come on and look more than good enough to be there. Would maybe have been a different result if Welbeck had been fit to play – who knows?
Iwobi has been our best player for quite a while now he puts in the work and scores goals it’s a shame ESR doesn’t do the same, we still need a good centre forward to help us to put away the chances we create. I agree with Marco about our fans not getting behind the team we must have the quietest fans in the premiership so come on and make some noise on Sunday.