A brace from Alex Iwobi led Fulham to victory over Brighton as they move into sixth place and sit only one point behind the Seagulls.
Iwobi pounced on an early mistake from Bart Verbruggen to give Fulham the lead before Carlos Baleba equalised just after the break.
Then an own goal from Matt O’Riley put Fulham back ahead before Iwobi scored again at the death to seal the game for the hosts.
It now means that Fulham are unbeaten in all nine of their Premier League fixtures against Brighton and have registered their first league win since the 9th of November.
Before victory over Brighton, Fulham were winless in their last two games with a draw away at Tottenham and a shock 4-1 defeat to relegation threatened Wolves.
Fulham entered the game in 12th place but now sit in 6th and just outside the European spots by leapfrogging five teams who now sit below them.
Brighton on the other hand, missed out on the opportunity to potentially enter the UEFA Champions League places with a win over Fulham but instead the Seagulls remain in 5th.
Story of the Match
Marco Silva made three changes to his Fulham side that drew away at Tottenham over the weekend with Raul Jimenez, Timothy Castagne and Harry Wilson replacing Kenny Tete, Saša Lukić and Rodrigo Muniz.
As for the visitors, Brighton boss Fabian Hürzeler had to watch from the stands but still made four changes as Simon Adingra, Mats WiefferBaleba and captain Lewis Dunk replaced Danny Welbeck, Tariq Lamptey, Georgino Rutter and Age Setting.
Just three minutes into the game and the home side had broken the deadlock when a high press from Fulham forced Brighton keeper Verbruggen into a loose pass that was collected by Iwobi who side-footed the ball into the back of an empty net.
Fulham continued on the front foot after their early opener, when an in-swinging corner was met by the head of Muniz only for the Brazilian‘s effort to fizz wide of the far post.
Brighton slowly grew into the contest with their big chance coming from the right flank as Adingra cut inside onto his left before curling a shot just over the crossbar.
Then on the half-hour mark Kaoru Mitoma made an overlapping run down the left flank before cutting back and combining with fellow winger Adingra. The Ivorian’s first time strike was saved from close range and pushed out wide by Fulham keeper Bernd Leno.
Fulham had one final chance to double their lead before half-time when Antonee Robinson ran in down the left flank before crossing into the box where once again the ball was met by a Muniz header that bounced wide of the far post.
Verbruggen’s early mistake was enough to give Fulham the lead going into the break even though Brighton had dominated possession and the creation of chances for the majority of the first-half.
Brighton respond in the second half
Just ten minutes into the second-half and Brighton had their long awaited equaliser when John Pedro plucked the ball out of the sky before using the outside of his boot to play in Baleba who smashed a low driven shot past Leno and into the bottom corner.
With the game evenly poised, it was Fulham manager Silva who blinked first when made a double change bringing on Andreas Pereira and Adama Traore in place of Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith Rowe.
Hürzeler then followed his opposite number as Brighton brought on Lamptey in place of Jan Paul van Hecke who showed visible fustration at the change by booting a chair on his way to the bench.
Moments later and the home side had regained the lead when an excellent corner from substitute Pereira led to a blind-sighted O’Riley turning the ball into his own net.
Now chasing an equaliser once again, Brighton made a triple change as Yankuba Minteh, Evan Ferguson and Rutter replaced Pedro, O’Riley and Adingra.
Fulham also made another double change as Jiménez and teenager Joshua King came on for Wilson and Muniz.
With only minutes of normal time remaining, it was Iwobi who finished the game just how he had started it but this time scoring with a more exotic finish. The former Arsenal man cut onto his right foot and curled the shot into the far corner to seal the game for Fulham.
Player of the Match: Alex Iwobi
Scoring at either end of the game, the Nigerian midfielder was at the heart of all of Fulham’s attacks as well being excellent in his defensive duties.
At 28 years old and in the prime of his career, he has already got three goals and three assists in the Premier League this season and will be hoping for many more in a bid to push Fulham towards a European placed finish come the end of the campaign.
