Harry Wilson as soon as once more helped Fulham to return 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 house Alex Iwobi’s fantastic slide-rule go to provide 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 multitude of clearing a deflected shot, earlier than Iwobi stepped in to hammer house the unfastened ball, 98 seconds earlier than Wilson’s strike turned the sport on its head.
Neither defensive coach would have felt significantly content material come full-time however there was worse nonetheless to return, as Keith Andrews’ half-time group speak 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 is out,” mentioned Sky Sports activities’ Rob Inexperienced. “He doesn’t have time to duck, he doesn’t have time to get out of the way.”
Brentford continued to play their half however endured a toothless night in opposition to their rivals, whereas the Cottagers thought they had been out of sight on the hour as Rodrigo Muniz powered house 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 very good at long throws, so we worked on a lot of long throws in training this week. We were basically working on the second balls and reacting to them, so we were able to withstand that, which was the main threat today.
“You do not know the place it is going to land, so we had been actually working all week on second balls, however credit score to our defenders, they had been capable of head away the primary balls and clear it from the penalty field.”
Analysis: Fulham hit their stride as Bees toil on road again
Sky Sports’ 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 start out in opposition to Brentford.
“Maybe that’s why he’s the Premier League head coach, because after a week of seeing his side on the training ground he was absolutely right to keep faith that they would find their energy and creativity again.
“He mentioned this week their ambitions wouldn’t be dimmed by a tough switch window, with solely Aston Villa spending much less, however sources do make a distinction.
“This was a timely reminder of the talent that remains at Craven Cottage, and that’s without their tricky 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.
“But for the Bees, for the second season in a row their home and away form is night and day. ‘Obviously, we need to address that,’ admitted Keith Andrews – though he insisted: ‘I didn’t feel any of it coming into the game, the players came in with a really good mindset.'”
