QPR 0-2 Fulham

Aleksandar Mitrović starred again as Fulham swept QPR aside in the West London derby.

A goal each half for our bigman - one from the spot - was enough to bag up a thoroughly deserved three points.

There were two changes from our last outing over two weeks ago, as Joe Bryan came in for Antonee Robinson after his international exploits with the USA, and Tom Cairney was back to captain the side, replacing Nathaniel Chalobah.

Marco Silva’s men made a strong start helped by the roaring Fulham faithful, and had an early opportunity to go ahead in the third minute. After some Tim Ream composure at the back the ball found its way to Neco Williams in space down the right. He floated a ball towards Harry Wilson who did well to glance on a header to Mitrović, who sent a shot narrowly wide of the QPR net from the edge of the box.

The Rs found some joy on the break next and had a chance of their own, as George Thomas’ effort skimmed the side netting after he got in behind down the left.

But it was Fulham who remained on top of proceedings, controlling the play and probing the QPR defence in search of an opener. Well-capable of scoring a worldie, Joe Bryan tried his luck with a looping volley from outside the box after 10 minutes, which had to be palmed away by Kieren Westwood.

After 13 minutes our early pressure was rewarded with a goal. Following some neat interplay to push us up the field, Cairney slotted in Fabio Carvalho down the right, who raced to the byline before squaring it across goal to Mitrović, and he made no mistake to tap home at the near post… cue scenes in the away end.

This was a real dominant display being put on by Silva’s side here, and after 25 minutes the advantage was almost doubled as a result. Carvalho was looking sharp following a successful debut trip with Portugal U21s last week, and after driving towards goal he saw his shot loop off a defender, hit the post and bounce agonisingly across the goal line before being cleared.

With just over five minutes of the first half remaining, Bobby De Cordova-Reid had a golden chance to add a second. Finding space down the left, our Jamaican international was sent a first-class delivery from a fully flowing Cairney and he was in on goal, but his effort was closed down rapidly by Westwood to block.

Thomas had a sighter for the hosts just before the interval after a cushioned volley from Lyndon Dykes fed him in behind the lines, but it was straight into the grateful arms of Marek Rodák, and we went into the break one-to-the-good.

The second half started very much as the first finished, with Fulham largely on top. On 53 minutes, Wilson’s one-two with Tim Ream got our Welsh wizard into space down the middle. He unleashed a rocket towards the top corner from 30-yards, but it was whiskers wide.

10 minutes later and yet again we went close to adding a cushion to the scoreline. From a curling Cairney corner, Mitro rose highest and nodded on a header towards the back post, requiring a goal line clearance from a Hoops defender to keep it out.

Nathaniel Chalobah took Cairney’s spot with a quarter-of-an-hour remaining to combat some QPR pressure.

Minutes later and Fulham finally doubled their advantage from 12-yards. Williams’ cross hit a hand as he attempted to launch one into the box, and so the referee pointed straight to the spot. Despite some feeble attempts to put him off from the players in blue and white, Mitro stepped up and confidently tucked it in for his 37^th goal of the campaign.

Neeskens Kebano made a welcomed cameo as the clock ticked down, replacing De Cordova-Reid to see the game in, as well as Jean Michaël Seri, who came on for Harrison Reed after a solid shift.

In the end Fulham took all three points to cement their status at the summit of the table, and bounce back with style after the break.