Fulham 1-1 Norwich City
- Published
Striker Nelson Oliveira came off the bench to earn Norwich City a point at fellow pre-season promotion favourites Fulham, who wasted a host of chances.
Floyd Ayite's low cross spun in off Norwich captain Russell Martin's heel to put the hosts ahead at the break, in a really open half.
Neeskens Kebano hit the post as Fulham chased a second to finish the game off.
It proved costly, as Oliviera tucked Wes Hoolahan's ball past David Button to snatch a share of the points.
It looked as though Fulham had done enough to begin the season with a win on the back of last term's Championship play-off disappointment, creating a glut of chances with just Martin's own goal to show for it.
Norwich had Daniel Farke - Huddersfield head coach David Wagner's successor at Borussia Dortmund reserve-team boss - in the dugout for the first time and his side played their part in an exciting and open encounter.
The Canaries too created some decent chances, two of which fell to debutant Marley Watkins, while the encouraging debut in goal of Angus Gunn - the son of former Canaries goalkeeper Bryan Gunn - included some key saves to frustrate the home side.
Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic:
"I am frustrated as I could not complain about offside. I'm not sure if it was legal or illegal, simply we have dropped two points.
"I see no point in complaining - it's about looking forward, not about the past.
"It's always disappointing to concede at that late point in the game. We are in a similar situation to last season when we were creating chances but not scoring enough."
Norwich manager Daniel Farke:
"Nelson is from Portugal and very emotional. It was really kind of him to show me the shirt (after scoring the equaliser).
"Hopefully that was not a sign for me because I can't do without him.
"He's a really good guy and has a good character but sometimes emotions burn a little bit in him. But there are no problems."
SAM's prediction | ||
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Home win - 48% | Draw - 27% | Away win - 25% |
SAM (Sports Analytics Machine) is a super-computer created by @ProfIanMcHale that is used to predict the outcome of football matches.