In need of a win and just seven points off the relegation zone, Fulham dug deep and rode their luck on the VAR front, ousting Wolves with a 3-2 stoppage-time victory they will hope can ignite their season.
Scarcely could Fulham have made a more frenetic start at Craven Cottage — straight out of the blocks like a team who knew they could ill-afford to let four League matches without a win become five.
In their past 13 meetings with Wolves, Fulham had won just once, while they had failed to score in the first half of a Premier League match since their 5-1 hammering at the hands of Manchester City on September 2.
Whichever way Marco Silva looked, the stats did not bode well for his side. Yet their dominant start to this match gave them the confidence to turn the screw and unlock the Wolves defence with just seven minutes on the clock.
Left-back Antonee Robinson, fresh from netting two goals in four days for the United States during the international break, overlapped to Willian’s left and received from the Brazilian by the byline. His precise cut-back for Alex Iwobi allowed the Nigerian to tuck cutely between the legs of goalkeeper Jose Sa.
As Fulham wheeled away in celebration, apparent once more was quite how well the £22m deadline-day signing of Iwobi is turning out. Already he was beginning to emerge as a leader for Silva’s side. Now he had his first Premier League goal for them.
Willian’s cross-field pass not a minute later allowed Iwobi to cross into a beckoning area where, tragically for the hosts, no one lurked to double their lead in an instant. Instead Raul Jimenez forced a corner against the club he left for £5.5m this summer, from which Tom Cairney — whose start was richly deserved in the eyes of many Fulham supporters — pummelled fired straight at Sa.
A lax Fulham pass allowed Matheus Cunha to play in Hwang Hee-chan, who cannoned against the crossbar to remind Fulham of their need to stay tidy. But undoing his good work for the opener, Robinson was defensively frail as he sought but failed to stop Jean-Ricner Bellegarde hoicked cross into the box.
There to head home Wolves’ leveller was Cunha. Fulham’s lead had lasted just a quarter of an hour.
If the first half was about well taken goals from open play, the second was about penalties. First, the one that should never have been.
Nelson Semedo made a small amount of contact with Cairney, who went down, but only after the defender had won the ball. VAR took an age to come to the wrong decision, but Willian was all too happy to bide his time, delay his run up, and stroll up to stroke home.
This time it was not 15 minutes but 16 until Wolves regained parity once more. Calvin Bassey’s header put Tim Ream in trouble, and the American bumped Hwang to the ground, with referee Michael Salisbury in no doubt. Hwang stepped up himself, lashing his spot-kick down the centre. Bernd Leno got a glove to it, but that was far from enough.
Yet Fulham would get the final say and their victory too. Joao Gomes fouled substitute Harry Wilson in the box, and when the clock reading 92 minutes and 31 seconds had been played, Salisbury returned from a look at the monitor to award the third penalty of the night.
Willian, ice in his veins, slammed Fulham to victory.
