Fulham returned to winning ways after three goals meant a massive three points at the Cottage on Thursday night.
Harrison Reed got his first home goal for Fulham in the first half, before Aleksandar Mitrović scored from the spot, and Neeskens Kebano diverted the ball onto Tyrone Mings for a third.
Following on from Sunday’s Bournemouth draw, Marco Silva made a solo swap on the wing, bringing in Willian for Dan James. Amidst slight doubts, Mitrović retained his starting spot up top, whilst Issa Diop made consecutive starts for the first time in his Fulham career after his goal on the weekend.
Lines were broken early by Fulham, in the third minute to be precise. Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s mazing run allowed Willian to feed Antonee Robinson down the left, requiring a strong Villa block to keep the danger at bay. Moments later, Willian managed a shot on goal from 10 yards after Mitrović found him with some intricate play, but Emiliano Martinez got down efficiently to save.
Fulham were bringing the game to the Villans egged on by a spirited Cottage crowd, and on the cusp of the 11th minute had the chance their efforts merited. De Cordova-Reid’s sweeping ball from the right seemed destined for Mitro to put home, but our big man couldn’t quite find the target after battling to win his header.
Just after the quarter-of-an-hour mark Fulham had a flurry of chances to take what would’ve been a deserved lead. First, a pair of long-rangers from Andreas - the second from a neat Willian corner routine – had to be diverted wide, before an Andreas corner found Mitro at the back sticks, with Tyrone Mings’ goal line block the only thing keeping it goalless.
Andreas was clearly in the mood tonight, and went close yet again minutes later. Winning a free-kick 30-yards from goal, our midfield maestro went for goal, needing a stern Martinez hand to tip it over.
Steven Gerrard’s side grew into the game in the next 10 minutes to come, with Bernd Leno being at hand to parry a couple of efforts on goal.
On the 33rd minute, Willian – who had looked lively all game – yet again went close to finding an opener. Following Andreas’ lung-busting burst up field, our Brazilian winger was fed in, cutting inside before aiming to bend his shot across goal, but Martinez matched it again.
A few minutes later the Whites finally found the finishing touch, through a perhaps unfamiliar source. Andreas’ wicked delivery caused problems yet again and meant Martinez had to flap at it and could only punch as far as Reed. He took one touch, steadied himself like an established striker and blasted one into the bottom-right corner from the edge of the box to bag his first ever goal at Craven Cottage, and put Fulham 1-0 up.
Fulham were spelling more problems for Villa into the second half, and went close to gaining a goal cushion on the 54th minute. After João Palhinha won the ball back in the middle of the pitch he played it to Willian on the counter, who switched it to Mitro, but our striker’s half-volleyed effort was blocked at the last.
There was some VAR drama on the hour mark involving Mitro and Douglas Luiz. Initially undetected by the on-field officials, replays showed the Villa man to clearly headbutt our Serbian striker and see red as a result.
Six minutes later and Mitro was at the heart of things again as he won his side a penalty. Taking it down calmly from De Cordova-Reid’s perfect cross-field pass, our number 9 struck at goal and was blocked from the flailing arm of Matty Cash. In fitting style, our striker showed no signs of nerves to dispatch underneath the torso of Martinez.
The side in claret had a rare sighter on goal in the 80th minute, after Ashley Young found some space before dispatching a cross into Ollie Watkins, who saw his effort blocked by a resolute Fulham backline.
With 10 to play Fulham found a third. Some mesmerising skill and balance from Kebano culminated in our man getting past his marker before flashing one across goal which was kindly diverted in by Mings to add the cherry on top of a sweet display.
There was time for another bonus with the clock ticking down, as Luke Harris made his Premier League debut, coming on in place of Andreas.
In the end Fulham saw out a top performance to return to winning ways and keep an impressive start to the 2022/23 campaign going.
