Fulham eased the pressure on Mark Hughes by beating West Brom 3-0 to climb out of the bottom three.
Hughes breathes easy as Fulham end home hoodoo
Fulham eased the pressure on Mark Hughes by winning 3-0 at home to West Brom to climb out of the bottom three.
Some Fulham fans called for the manager's head after their 3-1 home defeat by West Ham on Boxing Day and despite winning at Stoke, they slipped back into the relegation zone following Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Tottenham.
But Simon Davies opened the scoring in first-half stoppage time before delivering corners for Clint Dempsey and Brede Hangeland to head home, sealing Fulham's first win in six games at Craven Cottage and just their third home victory of the season.
Injury-hit West Brom were firmly in the game until Davies' opener but would rue a first-half miss by Jerome Thomas as they slumped to a fifth straight defeat.
Fulham are now up to 13th having leapfrogged the visitors on goal difference, leaving the Baggies just two points above the drop zone.
Injury problems
Roberto Di Matteo had to field a makeshift defence with 18-year-old James Hurst handed his league debut at right-back while centre-back Gianni Zuiverloon made his first Premier League start of the season and Fulham threatened first in a lively opening, former West Brom striker Diomansy Kamara forcing Scott Carson to save from a tight angle.
Fulham had David Stockdale back in goal with Australian Mark Schwarzer away on Asian Cup duty and he was tested by a 20-yard strike by lone striker Peter Odemwingie.
Fulham winger Damien Duff then dragged a shot wide before Youssuf Mulumbu was fortunate to survive a penalty shout for a clumsy challenge on Dempsey.
Thomas spurned the Baggies' best chance as Chris Brunt picked out his run in from the left, only for the winger to shoot too close to Stockdale.
A fine slide-rule pass from Graham Dorrans almost presented Brunt with the opener but the visitors suffered another injury blow on the half-hour mark as left-back Marek Cech hobbled off to be replaced by Nicky Shorey.
Zuiverloon made an important block to Dempsey's shot before the Baggies regrouped, while Davies sent a difficult volley wide and Brede Hangeland headed wide from a Davies corner.
Davies opener
And the home side's pressure paid off as Dickson Etuhu won possession with a fierce challenge on Mulumbu and squared for Davies to smash a right-footed strike high past Carson, who should have done better.
Duff fired narrowly wide after the break before top scorer Dempsey rose above Shorey to head his seventh goal of the season from Davies' 56th-minute corner.
And the three points were secured nine minutes later when Hangeland made amends for his earlier miss, losing Brunt to head home from another excellent inswinging delivery by Davies.
Thomas and Brunt were narrowly off target as West Brom battled for a consolation while Stockdale had to turn over a fierce Odemwingie strike late on.
| Fulham |
Team Statistics |
West Bromwich Albion |
| 3 |
Goals |
0 |
| 1 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 5 |
Shots on Target |
3 |
| 6 |
Shots off Target |
9 |
| 2 |
Blocked Shots |
4 |
| 7 |
Corners |
4 |
| 7 |
Fouls |
11 |
| 0 |
Offsides |
2 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 81.5 |
Passing Success |
80.1 |
| 32 |
Tackles |
29 |
| 75 |
Tackles Success |
72.4 |
| 50.5 |
Possession |
49.5 |
| 56.9 |
Territorial Advantage |
43.1 |
|
