Fulham

Sam Drury
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

After 45 minutes, the only thing missing for Fulham was a goal.

They have been comfortably the better side in the first half at Molineux, limiting Wolves to just a solitary shot while creating a number of good chances themselves.

That they were not ahead given the quality of the chances Harry Wilson and Tosin Adarabioyo had will have frustrated Marco Silva but they had another 45 minutes find the breakthrough - and against a Wolves side shorn of their best player.

It is all of these things that will make Fulham's display in the first 20 minutes or so after the break even more disappointing for Silva, the fans and the players themselves.

The game was there for the taking but they gave their hosts encouragement and by the time they were able to regain their composure, they were 2-0 down.

Wolves upped their intensity after half-time but Fulham played into their hands with some sloppy build-up play.

"We have to be clinical and ruthless at this level, we weren’t and we were punished by those mistakes," Silva said.

Having missed the chance to make it three straight wins and leapfrog Wolves in the table, Fulham will look to bounce back next weekend at home to Tottenham.

Wolves gave their hopes of playing European football next season a boost as they beat Fulham to move up to eighth in the Premier League.

Rayan Ait-Nouri opened the scoring early in the second half, converting from Toti Gomes' pull back after Fulham failed to deal adequately with a free-kick from deep.

There was more than a hint of good fortune about the second as Nelson Semedo's shot took a big deflection off Tom Cairney to leave Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno helpless.

Alex Iwobi pulled one back deep into stoppage time with a clever, improvised finish but there was barely time for the game to restart as Wolves held on.

The win for Gary O'Neil's side was all the more impressive given they lost both Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Pedro Neto to injury in the first half.

Meanwhile, Fulham were left to rue missed opportunities having dominated the first half with Harry Wilson firing wide with only the goalkeeper to beat and Tosin Adarabioyo thumping a shot against the bar when left unmarked eight yards out.

Wolves were a changed side after the break, quickly putting Marco Silva's side under pressure with an aggressive high press, led by the impressive Mario Lemina.

They were able to ease off slightly after going two ahead and although they managed to keep the visitors quiet for the most part, Jose Sa was forced to make a smart save to deny Joao Palhinha before Max Kilman headed Rodrigo Muniz's follow-up effort off the line.

Former Wolves winger Adama Traore also had a fierce shot repelled by Sa as Fulham's poor record at Molineux continues.

Iwobi's goal was their first in five visits to the ground and you have to go back to March 1985 for their last win at Wolves, a run of 18 games in league and cup.

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How did you rate the side's performance, Fulham fans?

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There are five games being played in the Premier League on Saturday and we will bring you every moment.

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All times are GMT

Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches again this season, against a variety of guests.

For this weekend's games, he takes on The Zutons frontman Dave McCabe, who supports Liverpool, and Better Joy's Bria Keely, who is a Manchester City fan.

Sutton's prediction: 1-1

I didn't expect Wolves to get walloped the way they did at Newcastle last time out, the same way I didn't think Fulham would beat Brighton so convincingly.

I really like what Fulham are doing at the moment, though. They are playing some nice football and, up front, Rodrigo Muniz is in excellent form.

Wolves are definitely without Matheus Cunha through injury so the level of their attacking threat depends on whether Pedro Neto is fit after he came off with a hamstring problem against the Magpies.

Either way, this is another very difficult game to call. I don't want to go for a draw but I do feel like it's the most likely outcome.

Dave's prediction: 1-1

Bria's prediction: 1-1

Read the rest of their predictions here

Fulham boss Marco Silva has been speaking to the media before Fulham's Premier League game at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Speaking about Fulham's positive run of results: "We are getting more consistent. That's really important and really difficult at the level we're playing. The past few weeks have been very good in terms of results and performances."

• Wolves "have been strong", despite a 3-0 loss to Tottenham last weekend, and Silva said his side are looking forward to what will be "a very good challenge for us", adding: "After back-to-back wins, we want more."

• Silva said he is wary of the attacking threat of Gary O'Neil's side: "They are a team in any moment who can punish you."

• On Raul Jimenez's availability: "Raul has been involved in training. It's probably too early for him to be involved [on Saturday]. Next week he will be back involved [and] fully fit."

• On Tosin Adarabioyo "He's doing well, he had a tough start at the beginning of the the season due to a small surgery."

• Praising 22-year-old Brazilian striker Rodrigo Muniz's recent goalscoring form of five goals in his past five games, Silva said: "He's showing the same potential I saw when I signed him from Brazil." However, he urged patience and support for Muniz, who has stepped up and shown "quality."

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences

Image source, Getty Images

Midfielder Tom Cairney says Fulham will head to Molineux "full of confidence" when they take on Wolves on Saturday.

Marco Silva's side have won their past two Premier League games against Manchester United and Brighton.

They also won the reverse fixture with Wolves 3-2 at Craven Cottage in November, with Willian netting the second of his two penalties on the night in second-half stoppage-time.

"It will be difficult," said Cairney on the Footballers' Football Podcast.

"I've been very impressed by Wolves, Gary O'Neil has done a very good job.

"If we win, we go level on points with them and it takes us to 38 points, which will be an incredible return. If you win three Premier League games in a row, it's incredible. We're going there full of confidence but it's a tough game."

Listen to the full podcast on BBC Sounds

Image source, Reuters

On the latest episode of the Footballer's Football Podcast, Fulham midfielder Tom Cairney and West Ham forward Michail Antonio were asked if clubs are within their rights to highlight alleged gamesmanship by opposition players on their social media accounts.

Last week, Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said Fulham should apologise for a video they posted on social media that appeared to mock United captain Bruno Fernandes.

The video showed Fernandes go down and clutch his leg before swiftly getting up again during United's 2-1 loss to Fulham at Old Trafford, and was captioned: "So glad he's OK."

Cairney was initially reluctant to answer, before saying: "I'm trying to put it on me - would I care if another team came for me if I did something in a game?"

Antonio said: "On a serious level, banter is banter, football is banter, it is what it is. People need to accept that there's always banter. I put stuff up constantly about people because football's banter and everyone likes a joke.

"If you can't take a joke, you can't be in football because you walk through the door and your team-mates absolutely rip you to smithereens."

Cairney then added: "I think I'm more surprised at the Manchester United manager bringing it up really. Obviously the game's been played, we won and stuff, and I feel like that was more surprising for me, the fact they're bothered about whatever a social media person at Fulham has done.

"Bruno Fernandes is a top player with remarkable numbers and he has amazing traits to be Manchester United captain.

"I've seen many players in the past lose the ball, go down, be injured, the team wins it back and they jump up."

Listen to the full podcast on BBC Sounds

Here are the key facts and figures before Saturday's game between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Fulham in the Premier League.

• Wolves have not lost in their seven Premier League home games against Fulham (W5 D2), the most they have played a side at Molineux without ever losing in the competition. They are unbeaten in 14 home league games against Fulham overall (W10 D4) since a 4-0 reverse in April 1985.

• After their 3-2 win at Craven Cottage in November, Fulham could complete their first ever league double over Wolves, in what is the 44th league campaign in which the two clubs have met.

• Wolves have only failed to score in one of their past 20 Premier League home games, a 2-0 defeat by Brentford last month.

• Fulham have won both of their past two Premier League games, most recently winning more consecutively between December and January last season (four). Both of these wins have come against sides in the top half of the table and the Cottagers most recently won three consecutive Premier League games against sides starting the day in the division's top 10 from October-December 2009 under Roy Hodgson.

• Wolves have scored 40 goals in their 27 Premier League games this season, their most in a single campaign since 2019-20 (51), with their average of 1.5 per game their highest in a Premier League season.

• Having not scored in any of his first 10 Premier League appearances, Rodrigo Muniz has since netted five in his past five league games for Fulham. His five goals are the most by a player aged 22 or younger in a Premier League season for the club since Collins John in 2005-06 (11).

Pat Nevin
Former Everton and Chelsea winger

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester United were less than impressed last week by Fulham's meme suggesting Bruno Fernandes was not as badly hurt as he initially suggested. The midfielder did appear to make a Lazarus-level recovery when the referee ignored his writhing.

Now I am slightly conflicted here. As a former professional player, the idea of some smarty pants taking the mick out of players on a club's official social media feed feels unacceptable.

If it was another player, manager or ex-player pundit who has been there and done that who was having a go at Bruno, then I would be perfectly happy to let them vent their spleen.

I am conflicted here because I see Fulham's side in that particular incident. Let's be honest, there is a reason why Bruno gets booed by various fanbases around the country: it is the fact that they think he is a serial offender in the gamesmanship and 'rolling around pretending to be slain' stakes.

But, if every club lets their social media department go on the offensive, expect mayhem.

Maybe that’s the direction of travel - if so I am happy I am no longer a player!

Pat Nevin was writing for the BBC Football Extra newsletter

Sammy James
Fan writer

It has been a brilliant couple of weeks to be a Fulham fan, as on Saturday we backed up the dramatic win at Old Trafford with a comprehensive victory over Brighton at home. The visitors had much of the possession, but we were much more clinical in attack.

While Rodrigo Muniz is rightly taking the headlines with his impressive goalscoring run, these back-to-back wins have been built on the solid defensive pairing of Calvin Bassey and Tosin Adarabioyo.

Saturday was only the seventh time they have played together in the league, but in that time there have been five wins. If you watch them closely, I do not think that is a coincidence.

Bassey's future is probably fairly secure given that he only joined from Ajax in the summer, but Tosin's is much less certain. His contract expires in the summer and he has strongly expressed his desire to leave because he wants to further his career.

Therefore, I think Fulham need to do everything to convince Tosin that he should sign a new deal. Clearly he is ambitious, so they are going to have to offer more than just an improved salary. Tosin believes his ceiling is playing at European level, and the powers that be have to prove that Fulham is where he could achieve that.

I also think that from Tosin's point of view, the fact he has found such a good defensive partner should be a reason for him to consider staying too.

Jumping ship is no guarantee of success, but at Fulham he has a chance of being at the heart of a potentially very good side.

Sammy James can be found at Fulhamish, external

We asked you for your thoughts on Saturday's Premier League match between Fulham and Brighton.

Here are some of your comments:

Fulham fans

Tony: Marco Silva continues to get top performances from players who have been written off by other teams or young players who have struggled elsewhere. He is passionate and determined to get the best out of his team by playing attacking football. Our best asset.

Sara: Don’t know what Fulham have done but Rodrigo Muniz is a new man! His fitness and strength are unrecognisable. Makes the three-hour drive each way worth it to see him doing so well.

Will: Three goals, three points. Muniz's involvement in both the first two goals shows how important he is. If you had said, he would have five goals in five games last year no one would have believed you. A great end to the game as well with Adama [Traore] sealing it. Great to see him scoring again. Hopefully, we can keep this form up.

Bob: Absolutely brilliant! Harry Wilson should start more games and Muniz is class now he has sorted himself out. All takes time. We still need to finish more of the chances we make. But still, to beat the Seagulls despite them having a lot of the possession speaks volumes. Well done to all on this display. We need to keep these players. Bring on Wolves.

Brighton fans

David: Teams have now discovered how to beat Brighton - let them have the ball and score on counter attacks. We try and walk the ball into the net but we do not have the players with the skill to do so nor the defenders with sufficient speed to defend against the opposition's fast forwards. We got and deserved nothing from the game.

Isaac: I’ve got more questions than answers about Brighton at the moment. Perhaps we did have Roma on the back of our minds, but it’s no excuse to go to a good side like Fulham and play like that. Something needs to change - can’t put it down to what though.

Benny: With so many injuries and trying to keep players fit for Europe, it looked like they had finally ran out of gas. The biggest thing now is to try and keep Roberto de Zerbi. It looks like it is a tough ask, but who knows. Onwards and upwards for Thursday. If I know Brighton, someone will be in for a pasting very shortly.

Paul: Brighton are good at possession but possession doesn't win matches - goals do and goals only come from shots. They need to convert all that possession in to shots, preferably on target!

Former Tottenham midfielder Jermaine Jenas says there are "really promising" signs for Fulham after in-form striker Rodrigo Muniz scored and assisted to help beat Brighton.

"Harry Wilson and Muniz as a partnership looked really good," he told Match of the Day. "He [Muniz] is a handful.

"This is what they've missed. Ever since [Aleksandr] Mitrovic left, they haven't really had that presence.

"They bought [Armando] Broja in from Chelsea, Muniz is keeping him on the bench at the moment. His hold-up play is really good and Brighton couldn't seem to handle him.

"He's been in great form. Since the start of February, the goals are flowing and I'm sure he'll be looking to get to double figures.

"The two of them linked really well. Harry Wilson was dangerous all game long.

"He got the assist for Muniz, Muniz got the assist for him. Really promising signs.

"I feel like Fulham have had a really strong season and it looks like it's going to get better and better as it goes on with this partnership."

Watch Match of the Day on BBC iPlayer

Gary Lineker introduces highlights and analysis from Saturday's seven Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up on the action on BBC iPlayer.

Listen back to Saturday's BBC Radio 5 Live match commentaries in full:

• Nottingham Forest v Liverpool

• Luton Town v Aston Villa

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Fulham manager Marco Silva, speaking to Premier League Productions: "Really pleased and a great team performance. We were brave and knew when to press.

"We had a good mix and executed our game-plan really well. We were more assertive in the first half rather than the second.

"The spine of the team did really well this afternoon and we knew it would be important to win that battle."

On goalscorer Rodrigo Muniz: "He is improving, improving and improving.

"We are working on many things and he's getting better. It was a great goal from him.

"The way he linked the game was great too. He was really important throughout the game and it was another important performance, that's not a surprise for us because he did it last weekend too."

On consistency after winning successive games: "It's really difficult to have back-to-back wins in the league, we haven't had many this season.

"It's very important and gives a good feeling. After the last home game against Aston Villa it was important to react and we did that against Manchester United and then another good win today.

"We want as many points as we can to climb up the table."

Bobbie Jackson
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Fulham have just 11 games left to play in the Premier League this campaign and appear to be building momentum at the right time as they look to try and better last season's 10th place finish.

After the drama of recording a late win at Manchester United last Saturday, it was much more comfortable this weekend when Brighton travelled to Craven Cottage.

It is just the second time this season that Fulham have won successive league games.

Harry Wilson and Rodrigo Muniz were the stars of the show, combining for Fulham's opening two goals to give them a strong platform at half time.

Muniz teed up Wilson to curl home the opener and it was roles reversed for the second with the Brazilian heading in the Welshman's cross.

Fulham have been strong defensively at home this term with just Manchester City (11), Liverpool (11) and Arsenal (12) conceding fewer than their tally of 15 when hosting.

The Cottagers had to rely on that strong defensive record in the second half as Brighton pushed for a route back into the encounter.

But it was Fulham who struck again with substitute Adama Troare scoring his first for the club in additional time.

A wholly positive performance from Marco Silva's men, who have won three of their last four in the league and have only tasted defeat once in the last six games.

Image source, Getty Images

Fulham goalscorer Harry Wilson, speaking to Premier League Productions: "We knew going into the game that Brighton would have large spells of the ball.

"We worked on it all week to make the most of when we could get it.

"Although they had a lot of the ball, we had the better chances and probably could have scored more.

"Rodrigo [Muniz] the last few weeks has been amazing. The goals have come and he deserves that. He always makes it hard for defenders and battles for the ball. The way he set up my goal shows that.

"We took the confidence of the result from last week into this game. To go to Old Trafford without Willian and Joao [Palhinha] and win was great. When we're on it we can go toe-to-toe with anyone in this league."

• Fulham have never lost in eight Premier League games against Brighton (W4 D4) – no side have they faced more without ever losing in the competition (also 8 v Norwich).

• After winning their first two Premier League away games this season, Brighton have won just two of their last 12 on the road (D3 L7), losing three of their last four.

• Since the start of February, only Bukayo Saka (6) has scored more Premier League goals Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz (5).

• After scoring in a club record 32 consecutive league games from the start of March 2023, Brighton have now failed to score in five of their last 11. Four of these matches have come in their last seven away games, with three of those being in London.

• Adama Traore scored his first Premier League goal for Fulham, and his first in the competition for almost exactly a year, since netting Wolves’ winner against Tottenham on March 4th last season.

• Brighton have made 103 changes to their starting XI in the Premier League this season, their most in a single campaign in the competition, with their seven changes today their joint-most in a single match.

Fulham saw off a potentially distracted Brighton, who have a Europa League tie against Roma on Thursday, in the Premier League at Craven Cottage.

Harry Wilson beautifully curled in the opener to set Fulham on their way following tenacious work from Rodrigo Muniz to win the ball high up the field.

It was roles reversed for the second as Wilson returned the favour when delivering a teasing ball for Muniz to convert with his head from six yards out, scoring his fifth goal of the season, with all of those strikes coming in the past five games.

The game opened up and became a more exciting spectacle at both ends after half-time as Brighton brought on attacking duo Simon Adingra and Ansu Fati and committed bodies to the attack in search of a route back into the game.

Evan Ferguson had two big opportunities to score, with his first effort rolling agonisingly wide of the far post and his second well saved by a sprawling Bernd Leno, while substitute Facundo Buonanotte struck the base of a post.

With every Brighton outfield player in opposition territory as the game ticked into additional time, Fulham won the ball on the halfway line through Bobby de Cordova-Reid, who raced forward and squared for Adama Traore to score his first goal for the club.

Fulham stay 12th in the table and Brighton dropped to ninth.

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