Fulham 0-2 Burnley

Fulham were relegated from the Premier League following a 2-0 defeat at the hands of a clinical Burnley side on Monday night. 

First half strikes from Ashley Westwood and Chris Wood proved to be the difference and confirmed our drop and the Clarets' survival. 

Scott Parker made two changes from the side that fell to defeat in the South West London derby versus Chelsea last Sunday. Kenny Tete and Aleksandar Mitrović were brought in in place of Ola Aina and Josh Maja, respectively. 

It was a beautiful sunny evening after a few days of unpredictable weather in London. As a caveat it would be a predictably solid Burnley outfit that would roll into SW6. 

Fulham came roaring out after an impeccably observed minute's silence for Alan Slough. In the sixth minute, André-Frank Zambo Anguissa tested the palms of Nick Pope in the Burnley box after some neat work down the right wing. 

After an opening quarter in the ascendancy, the visitors began to creep their way in to the encounter. Set-pieces the order of the day, Fulham would have to be alert. 

In the 33rd minute Wood came close to opening the scoring. After winning possession in our half, Burnley sprung forward at speed. A delightful ball was swung into the danger area and an unmarked Wood stooped to head on target. His header clunked off a Fulham defender and crept just past the far post with a desperate Alphonse Areola watching on. A let off. 

However, minutes later, in the 36th minute Burnley took the lead. A pinpoint diagonal was pinged out to the left wing with our two centre backs isolated. Matej Vydra controlled and wormed past Joachim Andersen before laying it on a platter for the onrushing Westwood. A perfectly executed goal. 

Minutes later, in the 45th minute Fulham tumbled even further behind. Credit where credit is due it was a real beauty from Wood to add a second. After a clearance ricocheted to the feet of Vydra the forward tapped the ball into the path of Wood who unleashed an unstoppable right-footed shot into the top corner. 

A big lead at the break. Fulham, in need of a regroup at half-time with our attacking options stifled, with little to no gap in the opposition defences. 

Burnley shifted approach at the start of the second half and seemed content to sit back and defend their deserved lead. 

In an attempt to commit more bodies forward, Maja was inserted in place of Tete. Aside from Mitrović powering a header directly at Pope from a corner, we failed to generate any momentum. 

In the 70th minute our chances of a comeback were cruelly denied by the woodwork. A free flowing move down the left wing concluded with a nice ball being laid into the path of Anguissa on the edge of the Burnley box by Ademola Lookman. The towering midfielder unleashed a vicious right-footed strike that thundered off the bar and bounced clear. 

Despite throwing caution to the wind we were unable to generate anything more going froward and the match petered out. 

With three games remaining, Fulham will now be playing for pride and looking to end the season on a high ahead of a return to the Sky Bet Championship. We have fallen before and we will rise again.