Fulham's season starting to limp to the finish line as confident Cherries make off with the points
- By Yann Tear at Craven Cottage
- 21 hours ago
- 3 min read
Premier League
Fulham (0) 0 Andersen s/o 45+7
Bournemouth (0) 1 Rayan 53 Christie s/o 41
If these are to be Marco Silva's final weeks in charge they do not look like ending in a glorious final surge towards a European place as the high-riding Cherries secured a win that puts them into sixth spot and in sight of Champions League football.
It is no disgrace to go down to a side now unbeaten in 16 Premier League games since January, but Whites fans were underwhelmed by their team's attempts to make this run-in count and there were boos at the end.
in truth, they may have had most of the ball but there was not enough in the final third to tilt the game in their favour, although Josh King almost scored deep into injury time.
Fulham's hopes of securing the win they needed to keep the notional European flame flickering appeared to have received the perfect boost just before the interval when Ryan Christie was red carded for a lunge onto the calf of Timothy Castagne.
But another reckless challenge on Adrien Truffert by Joachim Andersen soon after got the same treatment from the officials to even up the numbers.
In both instances, ref Andy Madley initially saw them as yellow card offences, but Paul Howard on VAR did not like the look of the replays and Madley was persuaded to upgrade the punishment for both, ensuring we had 10 v 10 in the second half.
The Whites might have taken the lead when Rodrigo Muniz headed a Castagne cross narrowly wide from a good position and the striker had a good effort blocked after an overhead kick, while Andersen sent a looping header onto the top of the crossbar in that narrow time frame between Christie's exit and his own.
Sasa Lukic also tested keeper Djordje Petrovic from outside the box during those brief moments of extra optimism when Fulham had an extra man on the field. They would not replicate that degree of danger after the break.
Both sides made changes to deal with the changed circumstances. Issa Diop came on for Emile Smith Rowe. The Cherries sacrificed striker Evanilson. But they still had Junior Kroupi, and the youngster almost added to his goal collection by rattling the crossbar from just outside the box.
They also still had the Brazilian winger Rayan, whose curling low shot found the bottom corner after deceiving Bernd Leno, who seemed slow to react. His was one of the stand-out performances in the game and a dazzling run from his own half almost ended with him bagging a second goal.
Bournemouth had a spell of control now and almost doubled their lead when Marcus Tavernier drove into the danger zone from deep and unleashed a stinging drive at Leno.
The Whites needed new energy and Oscar Bobb came on for a subdued Harry Wilson to create an early opening after an exchange of passes with Lukic. his final shot was just too high.
Kevin was also introduced and came close after getting the better of Adam Smith down the left before sending an angled shot at Petrovic. But there was not nearly enough action in the final third down the Hammy End as the Whites sought out an equaliser.
That said, King almost saved the day in the final minute of added time, with a cracking shot that bounced down off the underside of the crossbar.
Whites: (4-2-3-1) Leno - Castagne (Kusi-Asare 83), Andersen, Bassey, Robinson - Lukic, Cairney (King 76) - Wilson (Bobb 62), Smith Rowe (Diop h/t), Chukwueze (Kevin 62) - Muniz
Cherries: (4-2-3-1) Petrovic - Smith, Hill, Senesi, Truffert - Scott (Toth 90), Christie - Rayan (Brooks 79), Kroupi (Unal 79), Tavernier (Adli 79) - Evanilson (Adams 43)
Attendance: 27,626
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