Fulham secured their first win of the Premier League season with a comfortable 2-0 win over West Brom – that also lifted them out of the relegation zone.
The Cottagers did so courtesy of goals scored by Bobby Decordova-Reid and Ola Aina which came four minutes apart in the first half.
Fulham made two changes to the side that lost 2-1 at home to Crystal Palace last time out, bringing in deadline-day loanee Joachim Andersen and Decordova-Reid for Tim Ream and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
West Brom were unchanged from their 1-1 draw away to Brighton and were aiming to record their first league win at Craven Cottage since October 1967.
Neither of these sides had been able to record a league win this campaign, so it was viewed as an early-season six pointer where a favourable result for either side could help change the course of their term.
West Brom started the game the better of the two sides, yet it was Fulham that took the lead when Decordova-Reid headed home from close range after Aleksandar Mitrovic teed him up with a cushioned header from Antonee Robinson’s cross.
Just four minutes later, the Baggies found themselves two down after Fulham’s loanee Aina struck from distance – with the assist coming from Mitrovic. His 20-yard effort was made even more impressive by the fact that it was taken with his weaker left foot, yet still arrowed into the top left corner, leaving West Brom keeper Sam Johnstone helpless.
In the second half, both Fulham captain Tom Cairney and Decordova-Reid went close by having efforts cleared off the line within seconds of each other. A sumptuous chip from Cairney, following a Johnstone error, was met by the trailing leg of full back Conor Townsend, who could only divert the ball into the path of an unmarked Reid. His powerful effort was blocked on the line by Semi Ajayi, who, after a VAR review, was deemed safe of handballing inside the box.
West Brom never particularly threatened Fulham and were only able to register one shot on target throughout the game but Karlan Grant’s header didn’t test French Fulham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. This was despite the visitors enjoying 55 per cent of the ball over the course of the 90.
However, Fulham won’t care as they recorded their first win this season to leap above West Brom into 17th with the latter dropping into the relegation zone into 18th.
Speaking post-match Fulham manager Scott Parker said: ‘We definitely got what we deserved. We are definitely maturing and definitely improving. We got a result and it is brilliant but we have to keep moving forward.’
Meanwhile, West Brom boss Slaven Bilic was less complimentary about his side and their performance, saying: ‘They were better than us in everything, one-vs-one, two-vs-two, passing the ball, aggression and commitment, everything really and I’m extremely disappointed – we can’t play like this…
‘It’s worrying – not the points or position, but the performance. Everything starts with the work rate, commitment, dedication and we simply didn’t match them and have to work much, much harder.’
Next up for Fulham is a tricky trip to the London Stadium on Saturday night to face West Ham (November 7th, 8pm), while West Brom face the unenviable task of dealing with Tottenham and their frightening attack in the Sunday lunchtime kick off (November 8th, 12pm).
By Dylan Chavasse
