Opta Evaluation

Martin Jol’s Team did themselves proud on Sunday afternoon as they continued to battle until the end as they searched for a way back into their match with Sunderland.

Unfortunately they could not reduce the two-goal deficit and lost the game 3-1, although the Opta numbers demonstrate how well the Whites played as we dominated our visitors in almost every statistical department.

We practically doubled Sunderland’s attempts on goal, with the boys in white managing 20 efforts to the Black Cats’ 11 – seven of ours were on target compared to their six.

The corner count was dead even on four apiece, while we edged the amount of overall crosses with 18 compared to Sunderland’s 16.

Sunderland just about saw more of the ball, but Fulham can be proud of our 49.3 per cent possession statistic, especially considering we were a man (or two men for a short while!) light for the majority of the match.

The Whites managed three more tackles than our visitors as we won the ball 15 times, while Martin O’Neill’s side were guilty of more fouls.

Dimitar Berbatov took the armband following Brede Hangeland’s dismissal and our top scorer put in a real captain’s performance as he looked to dictate the play.

The Bulgarian won possession of the ball on nine occasions, as well as winning two tackles and three aerial duels. He was also involved in 76 ball events which was more than any Sunderland player.

Check out all the statistics from the game in our Match Centre.