Fulham 3-0 Brighton: Cottagers too strong for lacklustre Seasiders

First-half goals from Harry Wilson and Rodrigo Muniz - followed by a late Adama Traore strike - saw Fulham beat Brighton and Hove Albion 3-0 at Craven Cottage as the hosts won back-to-back Premier League games for just the second time this season.

Fulham were looking to build on last weekend's impressive 2-1 victory at Manchester United and went in 2-0 up at half-time after eye-catching strikes from Wilson - a lovely curler from just inside the box after 21 minutes - and Muniz, who thumped home the former's inviting centre 11 minutes later.

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Traore came off the bench to net a third for the hosts in injury time as Marco Silva's side stay 12th, while the visitors slip to ninth having now been victorious in just five of their previous 21 top-flight encounters with manager Roberto De Zerbi admitting his team were going through a "tough" period.

How Fulham made it successive league wins

Fulham headed into this game in buoyant mood after their most impressive win of the season - maybe even the Silva reign - at Old Trafford last time out, but looking to shake their inconsistent tag under the Portuguese.

Brighton, though, proved ideal opponents to achieve this, with De Zerbi's side currently struggling to find their impressive form of last season and after a bright start in west London, largely falling to trouble their hosts.

The visitors gifted Fulham their opener after Adam Webster failed to deal with Calvin Bassey's long ball forward, the Brighton centre-back allowing Muniz to muscle in, before the Brazilian somehow found Wilson in space on the right edge of the box.

The Wales international still had a lot of work to do to find the net, but his delicious curler gave Jason Steele no chance and the home side soon doubled their lead after a flowing move from back to front.

Harrison Reed and Andreas Pereira were heavily involved, before the ball was worked out to Wilson in space down the right, with the forward's gorgeous ball in powered home by Muniz from close range.

De Zerbi rung the changes at the break, but as much as Brighton pushed and probed in search of a way back into the contest, it was Fulham who struck again in the first minute of stoppage time after a dawdling Pascal Gross got caught in possession, allowing Bobby Decordova-Reid to find fellow sub Traore, who made no mistake with a low finish into the bottom corner.

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• 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).
• Having won their first two Premier League away games this season, Brighton have since won just two of their last 12 on the road (D3 L7), losing three of their last four.
• Fulham's Harry Wilson both scored and assisted a goal for the second time in 85 Premier League appearances, with both occasions coming in his last 10 games in the competition (also vs West Ham in December).
• 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.

Are Brighton just in a slump, or is this a more worrying long-term decline?

Analysis by Sky Sports' Richard Morgan:

It all started so well for Brighton this season, winning five of their opening six Premier League games to continue the momentum from the previous campaign's hugely impressive sixth-placed finish.

Yet Roberto De Zerbi's side seem to have stalled since then and slipped to ninth in the table after another limp display in the capital on Saturday, meaning the Seasiders have now won only five of their last 21 league outings.

And the reasons for this worrying slump in form? Well, as usual, it is never just one thing, but certainly a long injury list, caused in part by having to contend with the added exertions of playing in Europe this season, has not helped.

But it is at both ends of the pitch they are currently struggling, with the defence leaking goals at an alarming rate - they gifted Fulham two of their three goals on Saturday - while the forwards are also going through a rare lean patch in front of goal.

In fact, after scoring in a club-record 32 consecutive league games from the start of March 2023, Brighton have now failed to register in five of their last 11 games, with a deflated De Zerbi highlighting his team's lack of energy in his post-match assessment.

And similar to any Jurgen Klopp-managed side, the one thing the Italian always asks from his players to give 100 per cent, as without that, they just become a shadow of their former selves.

What the managers said...

Fulham boss Marco Silva:

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"They were great performances. Rodrigo [Muniz] is getting better and better.

"He's getting stronger which is really difficult for the defenders to deal with. We know that if we provide for him inside the box then he's really dangerous as well.

"We expected Brighton to play man on man across the pitch and to press us and we knew we had to play behind that pressure. To have a player like Rodrigo to link up our game and build our attack is really important.

"The way he's improving in all aspects of the game is really good for us and for him he's a happy boy as you'd expect and I think there's even more to come from him.

"I'm really happy because we deserved the three points at home with a clean sheet.

"To have back-to-back wins in the Premier League is really tough and we wanted to get back to winning ways after the Aston Villa match [2-1 defeat].

"We showed quality, commitment and desire to do the right things and that's positive.

"The first half was almost perfect I must say. They didn't create one chance and we were clinical of course with the goals that we scored.

"The second goal is almost the perfect team goal. The way we built from the goalkeeper to the last moment and myself as a manager that is something I'm proud of."

Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi:

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"I think we played without the energy. In the Premier League you need to push 100 per cent and you can't play with 50 or 60 per cent.

"I think we deserved to lose, we played without the right energy but it can be like this. To compete this season is tough [but we have to] do better than today.

"In football you have to play every game in every competition at the same level. I am working a lot on keeping the right energy and mentality in our work. It's a challenge every day for the club, for me, the players. But we are fighting and we have to show we deserve to play to keep at this level.

"Today we can't explain the game with possession, shots, chances to score. The game is easier than the result says. We didn't play well and Fulham played a good game - not an amazing game - but enough to win. We can play much better than we did today, but I know my players will react in the right way on Thursday."

What's next?

Fulham travel to Wolves next Saturday (kick-off 3pm).

Brighton are back on their European adventure on Thursday with a trip to face Roma in the Europa League (kick-off 5.45pm) before hosting Nottingham Forest next Sunday (2pm kick-off).

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