Fulham keep division's basement at arm's length as far-from-festive grind yields precious three points

Picture by @YTJourno

Premier League

Fulham (1) 1 Jimenez 45+5pen

Nottingham Forest (0) 0

Fulham continue to trade in crucial wins to keep themselves afloat. Here was another vital one against another of the division's strugglers. A similar outcome at 18th placed West Ham on Saturday would be ideal for them, although their advantage over the Irons is already now at 10 points.

The Whites were way below their best and arguably missed the drive of Alex Iwobi in midfield, the attacking verve of Samuel Chukwueze and the personality of Calvin Bassey at the back. All three are with Nigeria in the Africa Cup of Nations so Marco Silva must do without the options they offer. At least his team did enough to edge this one without them. Just.

This was a pretty gruelling pre-Christmas watch for home fans, but they recognised their team was having to dig in to claim the victory in a tetchy contest. The team did what was necessary, in a bah humbug sort of way.

Fulham fans certainly had to be patient for any goodies to come out of the stocking.

There were few chances of note before the interval - the best coming when Antonee Robinson collected Kevin's pass to hoist a cross to the near post for Raul Jimenez to send a glancing header into the side netting.

It was all a bit helter-skelter and for Joachim Andersen particularly painful. He dislocated a finger which needed to be taped up after treatment.

Kevin too had to have a time out with a head injury early on, but fortunately he was able to continue and he carried the biggest threat. Two minutes into first-half injury time, a Douglas Luiz tackle floored him and Fulham had a penalty, which Jimenez duly put away after a stuttering run-up.

It was the Mexican's fourth goal of the campaign and means he has converted all 11 spot kicks he has taken in Premier League games.

Forest did not look to have much invention but dominated the second half as the Whites surrendered territory. Morgan Gibbs-White sent a low shot just past the post but the visitors did not carve out many openings.

Tom Cairney came off the bench to add greater control and calmness to proceedings and almost caught out keeper John Victor with a raking low drive from outside the box.

Kenny Tete put in a really impressive shift and also got forward to hook in a cross that Jimenez almost headed home for what would have been a pressure-relieving moment. But this 'last up on Match of the Day' encounter did not really deserve a second goal.

Whites: (4-2-3-1) Leno - Tete, Andersen, Cuenca, Robinson - Lukic, Berge (Cairney 66) - Wilson (Traore 85), Smith Rowe (Diop 85), Kevin (King 78) - Jimenez (Kusi-Asare 85)

Forest: (4-2-3-1) John Victor - Savona (Zinchenko 81), Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams - Anderson, Douglas Luiz (Dominguez 72) - Hutchinson, Gibbs-White (McAtee 73), Hudson-Odoi (Kalimuenda 92) - Igor Jesus (Awoniyi 72)