Two first half goals did the damage as Fulham were beaten by Leicester City on Wednesday evening.
James Maddison set up both for the visitors, first with a smart curling cross for Kelechi Iheanacho to head in.
A pivotal moment then came when Kasper Schmeichel saved brilliantly from Tosin Adarabioyo, with the Foxes going up the other end and doubling their lead when Maddison slipped James Justin in.
Scott Parker made two changes to the side that drew in West Bromwich at the weekend, with Kenny Tete and Harrison Reed coming in for Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Mario Lemina, who both dropped to the bench.
It was a positive start from both sides, with plenty of quick transitions regardless of who was in possession, but we had to wait until the 10th minute for the first meaningful effort when Alphonse Areola saved comfortably from Maddison’s well-struck long ranger.
Two minutes later, though, a gilt-edged chance came Fulham’s way. Antonee Robinson spotted the forward run of Frank Anguissa who in turn squared to Aleksandar Mitrović, but the striker couldn’t make the connection he was after and saw his effort blocked.
Harvey Barnes then fired over at the other end as the see-saw nature of the opening period continued.
The Foxes made the breakthrough in the 17th minute when a wonderful deep cross from Maddison picked out Iheanacho who just had to guide his header beyond Areola.
Our French stopper had to be alert soon after to beat away Caglar Soyuncu’s travelling volley after the centre-back had stayed up from a free-kick, before Mitrović saw a volley of his own fly over at the opposite end.
As we edged towards half-time, Fulham probed for a way back into proceedings, and came close to an equaliser when Adarabioyo rose highest to divert Ademola Lookman’s corner towards goal, but Schmeichel got a strong palm on it to send the ball over.
That save proved crucial as Leicester doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time when Maddison slipped in Justin who rounded Areola before prodding in.
It could even have been worse going into the break had Areola not saved well with his legs to deny Barnes a third.
Parker mixed things up at the interval, introducing Lemina and Ivan Cavaleiro for Anguissa and Tete.
Cavaleiro almost made an immediate impact, shimmying to find a yard of space on the edge of the box before drilling a low strike marginally wide of the far post.
Lookman was next to chance his arm, with his 25-yarder dropping quickly to cause Schmeichel some nervousness, but it didn’t plummet quite fast enough and cleared the crossbar.
Maddison was pulling the strings for the visitors and just before the hour mark Ola Aina became the second Fulham player to be booked for fouling the England man, following Harrison Reed’s caution in the first half.
The Whites continued to push for a way back into the match and substitute De Cordova-Reid thought he was in when he ran onto Mitrović’s pass, but Justin made a superb last-ditch tackle to divert the shot wide.
Parker had lauded Leicester’s organisational play in the build-up and it was ringing true at Craven Cottage, with the visitors professionally seeing out the remainder of the game to claim the spoils.
Fulham: Areola; Aina, Andersen, Adarabioyo; Tete (Cavaleiro 46’), Reed, Anguissa (Lemina 46’), Robinson; Loftus-Cheek (De Cordova-Reid 70’), Mitrović, Lookman
Leicester: Schmeichel; Pereira, Evans, Soyuncu, Justin; Tielemans, Choudhury (Mendy 61’); Perez (Albrighton 61’), Maddison, Barnes (Amartey 76’); Iheanacho
