Fulham 2-2 AFC Bournemouth

Fulham ended 2024 with an entertaining 2-2 draw against AFC Bournemouth at Craven Cottage.

The visitors came back twice as goals from Raúl Jiménez and Harry Wilson were cancelled out by Evanilson and a late suckerpunch from Dango Ouattara.

There was an early scare as a loose backpass from Jiménez left Bernd Leno in a spot of bother, with Evanilson taking the ball around our shot-stopper, but Leno recovered to deny the Bournemouth striker with an outstretched arm.

The game sparked into life on 10 minutes, with a rasping David Brooks shot from the edge of the area forcing Leno into a diving save, before Kepa made a routine stop to keep out Wilson at the other end.

Wilson – one of the heroes of Boxing Day’s derby win at Chelsea – then tried his luck on his weaker right foot, with Kepa gratefully pouncing on his shot.

The early chances kept coming as Leno stood strong to palm away Evanilson’s stinging effort from a tight angle after the forward had made a clever darting run behind the Fulham backline.

Leno’s best save of the lot came on the half hour mark, rushing out to make a big stop from Semenyo, who chose to go with power rather than placement when one-on-one with the Whites goalkeeper.

The opening goal arrived five minutes before the interval as Jiménez rose highest from an Andreas Pereira corner, with his header nestling into the bottom corner beyond Kepa.

It was almost a dream ending to the first period as Alex Iwobi tried to pick out the top corner from range, but there wasn’t quite enough dip on his dangerous strike.

Having been denied by a smart stop earlier in the game, Evanilson got the better of Leno five minutes into the second period. The striker finished emphatically after getting on the end of a perfectly weighted clipped pass by James Hill.

Silva’s side were looking for an immediate response and nearly got one as Illia Zabarnyi blocked Wilson's goalbound shot, before Kepa sprung to his left to save Timothy Castagne’s well-struck volley.

A chaotic 60 seconds unfolded midway through the half as Jiménez was denied a second goal on two occasions, first by a stunning Kepa save and then from a Dean Huijsen block. A long ball up the other end sent Evanilson through, but Leno rushed out the stop the striker as he closed in on goal.

Wilson, who is making quite the habit out of scoring important goals this season, bagged his second in four days, nodding home Antonee Robinson’s cross from the left.

The Welshman was inches away from extending the lead but he couldn't reach Castagne's fizzed ball across the box.

But there was to be late drama as the visitors equalised in the 89th minute as substitute Ouattara calmly chipped the ball over Leno to deny Fulham the three points.