Fulham 1-1 Leicester: Claudio Ranieri's men stay bottom after draw

Fulham remain bottom of the Premier League table after a 1-1 draw with Claudio Ranieri’s former club Leicester at Craven Cottage on Wednesday.

Aboubakar Kamara put the hosts in front with his first Premier League goal (43) before James Maddison equalised with a neat finish in the 74th minute.

Fulham had the best opportunity to win the match in the final minute of added time through Denis Odoi, but he flicked his effort from close range over the bar.

The result means Fulham remain at the foot of the table on nine points while Leicester drop down to ninth.

Kelechi Iheanacho spurned a glorious opportunity to give Leicester the lead in the third minute. A mix-up between Jean-Michael Seri and Luciano Vietto allowed Maddison to slip through Iheanacho, but the Nigeria international struck his one-on-one attempt straight into the body of the grateful Sergio Rico.

As Fulham slowly adapted to Ranieri's 4-2-3-1 formation, having played with a midfield diamond against Chelsea on Sunday, their first good chance of the evening landed to Calum Chambers, but the Arsenal loanee's half-volley from close range was superbly parried away by Kasper Schmeichel.

Fulham took the lead through Kamara with three minutes left of the first half to play. Aleksandar Mitrovic's deft flick was latched onto by the French striker, who left 22-year-old Caglar Soyuncu on the floor before he drove his strike into the bottom corner.

Tom Cairney came on after the break and made a strong impact for the hosts. The Scotland international came close to scoring in the 69th minute, but his powerful effort skidded past the post.

And even though Fulham looked likely to extend their lead, Leicester grabbed an equaliser through Maddison who met substitute Shinji Okazaki's pass before he coolly directed his shot into the bottom corner.

With the clock ticking down, Rico had to make a fine double save to deny Maddison before Fulham nearly found a winner in the final minute of added time. Cairney dinked a ball into the path of the unmarked Odoi, but he could not apply the vital finish which meant Ranieri's side had to settle for a point.

Opta stats

• Fulham's tally of nine points after 15 league games is their joint-worst ever total at this stage of a season in the Football League (assuming three points for a win), level with the nine they had in the third tier in 1993-94, a season in which they were relegated.
• Leicester City have now gone six league games without defeat (W2 D4) for the first time since May 2016 (12 games) when they won the Premier League title under now-Fulham manager Claudio Ranieri.
• Fulham have conceded 36 goals in their 15 Premier League games in 2018-19; only Barnsley (40 in 1997-98) have ever conceded more at this stage of a campaign in the competition.
• Leicester haven't lost any of their last five away Premier League games against newly promoted opponents (W3 D2), their best ever undefeated run away at such opposition in the competition.
• Aboubakar Kamara is the first French player to score a Premier League goal for Fulham (excluding own goals) since Philippe Christanval against West Ham in January 2007.
• Aleksandar Mitrovic has been directly involved in 60% of Fulham's 15 league goals this season (seven goals, two assists), the highest ratio for any player for a particular club in the Premier League.
• James Maddison has been directly involved in more league goals (seven - five goals, two assists) than any other Leicester City player this season.

Man of the Match - James Maddison

The 22-year-old midfielder was one of Leicester's main threats throughout the match. He took his goal well in the second half and would have gained an assist had Iheanacho applied a finish in the third minute following his incisive pass.

Maddison also came close to scoring the winner in added time had Rico not pulled off a fine double save.

The managers

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Claudio Ranieri: "Both teams played to win the match. I saw good improvement from my players. We made mistakes but if you analyse very well all the teams make little mistakes. We will have to continue to work hard because sooner or later we will win.

"When we have the ball we are ready to play and when we lose the ball we are ready to press and that for me is very important."

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Claude Puel: "The most important thing was we had to score and we had chances to win the game. Perhaps in the extra time we also could have lost.

"We played against a good team with good quality, but I am a little frustrated after the first half because we had chances to score and to manage the game after. It was not possible and the second half was poor for us."

What's next?

Fulham travel up north to face Manchester United on Saturday afternoon. Leicester, meanwhile, host Tottenham at 7.45pm on the same day.

Play Super 6

Predict 6 correct scores for your chance to win £250K.