Wilson double deepens gloom for Fulham
Fulham’s season went from bad to worse as they were thrashed 3-0 by Bournemouth whose fine start continued with two goals from Callum Wilson and one from David Brooks.
Eddie Howe’s side were too strong for struggling Fulham and Bournemouth remain in sixth place, only six points behind leaders Liverpool.
“It’s been a great start for us, the group is in a good place and confidence levels are high,” said Howe. “It’s important we remain that way and don’t look too far ahead.”
Fulham, by contrast, are in a rotten run of form with only one league win – in August – since winning promotion. Manager Slavisa Jokanovic is concerned that his players are struggling to adapt. “We were fighting to be here, and now the challenge is to compete at this level,” he said. “It is hard for me, my team, the board. The solution is in our hands, and we must be brave.”
Shahid Khan, the club’s owner, made one of his rare appearances with his Jacksonville Jaguars in town for today’s NFL match at Wembley, and reiterated in his programme notes his commitment to keeping Fulham at Craven Cottage.
But Fulham’s future in the Premier League will be more short-lived unless they can rectify the errors that are putting them on the back foot each week.
This time, it took just 13 minutes for Timothy Fosu-Mensah to make a mistake, taking out Wilson in the penalty area and giving referee Andre Marriner an “easy decision” as Jokanovic put it.
Wilson stepped up to convert the penalty past Sergio Rico, the Spaniard making his debut on loan from Sevilla in place of dropped Marcus Bettinelli. Jokanovic had reacted to last week’s 4-2 defeat at Cardiff by making other changes, notably in defence.
Andre Schurrle had a stinging shot well saved by Asmir Begovic and a couple of headers were close, but Fulham offered little threat.
The impressive David Brooks capped a fine performance with Bournemouth’s second goal, finishing off a thrilling end-to-end move by drilling the ball between Rico’s legs.
Then Kevin McDonald got his second yellow card for bringing down the young Welshman, and team-mate Aboubakar Kamara should have followed when he kicked the ball away after conceding a foul. Bournemouth promptly scored again to make sure of all three points. Ryan Fraser, excellent throughout, played a ball past Tim Ream far too easily and Wilson ran on to thump a first-time strike past Rico.