Fulham 3-0 West Brom

Aleksandar Mitrović bagged another hat-trick to take him to 18 goals for the campaign as Fulham brushed aside West Brom on Saturday.

A penalty followed by two poacher's finishes put the game out of sight for Fulham. 

There were a couple of red cards in the game too, as Darnell Furlong and Tosin were both dismissed in the second half.

There was a singular swap from a successful trip to Forest last time out as Harrison Reed was back in place of Tom Cairney in midfield, who featured on the bench alongside a returning Fabio Carvalho in a fierce looking matchday squad.

Before kick-off, both teams and fans remembered the service and sacrifice of the Armed Forces with a minutes silence while the last post was played.

A strong start from The Baggies granted an early shooting opportunity for Matt Phillips after a couple of minutes. He spun on the edge of the box before firing towards goal, but Tim Ream closed down sharply to take the venom out of the attempt.

A smart corner routine came next at the other end, as Neeskens Kebano’s out-swinger found Harry Wilson on the edge of the box begging to be hit first time. Our Welshman did just that, requiring a Jake Livermore block this time to prevent the target being hit.

Most of the Fulham danger was coming from the left in the opening 10 minutes through a familiar surging source, as Antonee Robinson was driving forward at every opportunity to test the visiting defence. The best of the runs resulted in a perfectly switched ball to Wilson on the other side, who collected but was pickpocketed just before he could get a shot off.

After quarter-of-an-hour there was another sighter for Kebano this time. From a freekick he had won the ball was headed out into his path on the edge of the box, with a looping volley trickling narrowly wide.

Moments later and we had a goal to show for the early opportunities. A bounding run down the right from Denis Odoi and Bobby De Cordova-Reid allowed the ball to be fed into Mitrović, who was bundled over in the box by Kyle Bartley for a penalty. Our number 9 stepped up with confidence and planted it past Sam Johnstone for his 16^th goal of the season.

Marco Silva’s side had their tails up now and were searching for a second straight away. Neeskens Kebano was looking lively whenever he had the ball, and dazzled his way past two defenders down the left to carve out a shooting chance for Jean Michaël Seri, but his effort glided narrowly over the bar.

After 30 minutes West Brom had a decent chance themselves, as Semi Ajayi’s header teed up Phillips again, who blasted his shot high of the target.

Valerien Ismael’s team were coming into it a bit more in the closing stages of the first half and came close again before the break. A looping ball from a deep free kick found the head of Matt Clarke running in on goal who sent it towards the back of the next, if not for a superb clawed stop from Marek Rodák.

Five minutes before the interval and Fulham had their cushion. Some sleepy West Brom play allowed Seri to pinch the ball off Robert Snodgrass high up field on the press. The ball then squirmed through to Mitrović who was alive to the danger, and could poke it past the ‘keeper to bag yet another goal.

There was an early scare in the second half as West Brom attempted to half the deficit. A quick breakaway resulted in the ball finding its way to Conor Townsend on the left, who pelted towards the byline before aiming at goal, but his attempt whistled wide of the opposing post.

On 56 minutes Fulham received another gift from The Baggies boys, from a quick free kick this time. After placing the ball down to play, Clarke squared it into no-mans-land with Kebano the closest to it. Our tricky winger sprinted through on goal but couldn’t quite dig out the finish required to beat Johnstone.

Townsend was proving to be a threat down the left and flashed one across goal towards Livermore again after finding a gap. The visiting Captain couldn’t take enough pace off it to guide in from a few yards out though, and Fulham got away with it.

The Baggies were reduced to 10 men with 20 minutes left on the clock. De Cordova Reid’s slot through was perfect to find Wilson on the left this time, and as our Welsh wizard raced through he was taken out by Furlong through on goal, who was consequently dismissed.

Fulham were flowing now with the extra man advantage, and a couple more opportunities presented themselves to De Cordova-Reid and Kebano who were both having starring roles in the performance, but neither could quite add the third.

Tosin went close to putting the cherry on top with 10 minutes remaining, powering a header towards goal but straight at Johnstone who stood firm.