Fulham's super subs

Fulham’s late show on Sunday against Tottenham Hotspur saw us take our tally of goals scored by substitutes to a whopping 13 this season, after Rodrigo Muniz and Ryan Sessegnon both netted after coming off the bench.

That’s more than any other club in the Premier League, and accounts for 30% of our goals in the top flight.

Muniz’s opener was the fifth time he’s found the net from the substitutes’ bench, with four of those goals responsible for winning the Whites a substantial 10 points – with his strike at Anfield going on to earn us a draw, and his efforts away to Newcastle and Chelsea proving to be winners, prior to his heroics at the weekend.

Harry Wilson has been almost as prolific in his role as impact player, bagging four times as a sub, most famously when he did so twice in six stoppage time minutes as we came from behind to defeat Brentford at the Cottage.

Here’s a look at all 13 goals scored by substitutes this season.

1: Reiss Nelson
Opposition: Newcastle United
Subbed on: 74’
Scored: 90+2’

Having conceded a last gasp equaliser in our previous outing against West Ham, there will have been some nervous faces at Craven Cottage as we entered stoppage time 2-1 up against Newcastle, but Nelson put those concerns to bed with a thumping finish following a slack Bruno Guimaraes pass.

2: Rodrigo Muniz
Opposition: Manchester City
Subbed on: 77’
Scored: 88’

Looking back at the game, it’s hard to believe we didn’t take anything from our trip to Manchester City, but Muniz’s first goal of the season ensured we continued fighting until the end, planting an unstoppable finish beyond Ederson after being picked out by Nelson. It’s the only Muniz finish this year which hasn’t contributed to points for Fulham, as we slipped to a 3-2 defeat.

3&4: Harry Wilson
Opposition: Brentford
Subbed on: 82’
Scored: 90+2’ & 90+7'

Wilson’s cameo against Brentford will go down as one of the all-time great substitute performances in our history. Despite battering our local rivals, we went into stoppage time 1-0 down, until Wilson’s brace turned the derby on its head. His flick to restore parity won the Premier League’s Goal of the Month, and his headed winner almost brought the roof off Craven Cottage.

5: Harry Wilson
Opposition: Crystal Palace
Subbed on: 82’
Scored: 83'

Five days after the Brentford win, Wilson needed just 39 seconds to double Fulham’s lead at Selhurst Park, latching onto Alex Iwobi’s through pass before finishing coolly. He also had another goal ruled out, meaning he had to settle for just the three goals that week from the bench.

6: Tom Cairney
Opposition: Tottenham Hotspur
Subbed on: 62’
Scored: 67'

Cairney’s wicked, swirling effort at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was some way to open his account for the season, and it needed to be something special to beat Fraser Forster that day, with the backup Spurs ‘keeper by far his side’s best player. Unfortunately, the afternoon ended sourly for our skipper when he was sent off for a mistimed challenge following a VAR intervention, but his strike still earned his team a point in a 1-1 draw.

7: Rodrigo Muniz
Opposition: Liverpool
Subbed on: 68’
Scored: 76'

Muniz’s deft flick at Anfield put Fulham ahead for the second time, long after Andreas Pereira’s opener had been cancelled out by Cody Gakpo, but a late Diogo Jota equaliser meant the spoils were shared in a 2-2 draw.

8: Harry Wilson
Opposition: Chelsea
Subbed on: 67’
Scored: 82'

Wilson continued his prolific season of headed goals when he scored Fulham’s deserved equaliser at Stamford Bridge, nodding home at the near post in front of a jubilant away end on Boxing Day. It was a strike made all the sweeter by Pedro Neto’s theatrics earlier in the move.

9: Rodrigo Muniz
Opposition: Chelsea
Subbed on: 74’
Scored: 90+5'

Muniz has scored some memorable goals for Fulham, but his clinical winner at Chelsea will surely go down as his most iconic, so far. We were deep, deep into stoppage time when the boys broke with pace, and Muniz calmly steered into the corner after being picked out by Saša Lukić, earning us our first Stamford Bridge win for 45 years.

10: Adama Traoré
Opposition: Leicester City
Subbed on: HT
Scored: 68'

Adama would likely not have entered the action as early as he did at the King Power Stadium had it not been for Alex Iwobi falling ill, but he certainly made the most of the situation, lashing home a fine angled drive midway through the second half to make sure of the points in a 2-0 win.

11: Rodrigo Muniz
Opposition: Newcastle United
Subbed on: 73'
Scored: 82'

Raúl Jiménez had done well at St James’ Park and was already on the scoresheet himself when he made way for Muniz, but it proved to be the right call from Marco Silva, as Muniz produced the most delicate of touches to divert Andreas’ free-kick beyond the helpless Martin Dubravka to win the game for his side.

12: Rodrigo Muniz
Opposition: Tottenham Hotspur
Subbed on: 63'
Scored: 78'

Another example of where Raúl had done nothing wrong prior to being substituted, but it just being another Marco masterstroke. Muniz’s energy and physicality caused the Spurs defence no end of problems following his introduction, and he capped his performance with the opening goal when he stroked exquisitely into the corner of the net.

13: Ryan Sessegnon
Opposition: Tottenham Hotspur
Subbed on: 87'
Scored: 88'

Sessegnon has been given more and more gametime of late, something which doesn’t seem likely to change if he keeps having this impact. The former Spurs man was on the pitch for a matter of seconds when he ran onto Bernd Leno’s pass, shrugged off the close attentions of Ben Davies, and rifled an effort into the postage stamp on his weaker right foot. An iconic Craven Cottage moment.