Late Willian penalty seals big three points for Fulham against Wolves

SPOT ON: Fulham's Willian celebrates scoring their side's third goal of the game from a penalty.

Premier League: Fulham 3 Wolves 2

Willian displayed impressive composure to hold his nerve during an extended VAR review before converting a penalty in the fourth minute of added time that secured Fulham’s first win since early October.

Marco Silva’s side had twice taken the lead, first through Alex Iwobi and then Willian’s first penalty of the evening. Both times, though, Wolves had fought back with Matheus Cunha and a Hwang Hee-chan penalty.

VAR had been involved in the two previous penalties, confirming Michael Salisbury’s onfield decisions and then recommended the referee review a late challenge by Joao Gomes on Harry Wilson on the pitchside monitor. The outcome was a chance for Willian to clinch the points.

Fulham had gone into the international break having collected just one point from their last four games. And there was a clear sense they were determined to end that run as Silva’s side quickly pushed Woves onto the back foot.

It took less than a minute for Iwobi and Andreas Pereira to combine on the right and set up a chance for Raul Jimenez who was unable to make a clean contact with his attempted flicked finish.

But the home side didn’t have to wait long before they created an even better opening that led Iwobi giving his side a seventh minute lead. The midfielder started the move, switching play to Antonee Robinson who exchanged passes with Willian before pulling a low cross back from the byline towards Iwobi who finished from six yards out.

Fulham were brimming with confidence and would have doubled the lead a minute later but for two fine saves by Jose Sa.

Another well worked move ended with Iwobi attempting to tee up Jimenez whose close range effort was well smothered by Sa. And from the resulting corner, Willian set up Tom Cairney whose powerful shot was beaten away by the keeper.

Wolves were reeling but they they were almost gifted a way back into the game when Harrison Reed’s misplaced pass was intercepted by Mario Lemina. The Wolves midfielder threaded a superb pass into the path of Hwang Hee-chan who was unfortunate to see his 20-yard chip strike the bar.

And the Fulham defence was again unpicked far too easily when Cunha headed the 22nd minute equaliser.

Willian's penalty kick.

A counter-attack on the Wolves right saw Nelson Semedo find Jean-Ricner Bellegarde who then turned Fulham left-back Robinson inside out before picking out the unmarked Cunha at the far post. The midfielder then had the simple task of directing his header wide of keeper Bernd Leno.

Fulham early confidence faded, a reflection of their recent poor form, while Wolves continued to grow into the game and looked increasingly assured.

And the visitors might have reached half-time ahead when Lemina was quick to capitalise on a Leno error before Calvin Bassey reacted well to make up for his keeper’s slip.

Silva’s side needed to find a way to recover their early momentum. Yet while they started the second period positively, it took an excellent covering block by Cottagers right-back Timothy Castagne to prevent Matt Doherty from putting the visitors ahead after a sweeping counter-attack.

That intervention set the tone and shortly afterwards Cairney produced a superb tackle to dispossess Lemina and start the 55th minute move that ended with the Fulham skipper going down under a challenge from Semedo.

Referee Michael Salisbury’s decision to award the penalty was confirmed after a lengthy VAR check before Willian sent Sa the wrong way from the spot.

A foul by Tim Ream on Hwang allowed the South Korean to level in the 79th minute but there was more drama to come.

Fulham (4-2-3-1): Leno 6; Castagne 7, Bassey 6, Ream 5, Robinson 7; Reed 6, Cairney 7 Lukic 90, 6); Iwobi 7, Pereira 6 (Wilson 76, 6), Willian 9 (Adarabioyo 90, 6); Jimenez 5 (Vinicius 76, 6).

Subs not used: Rodak, Tete, Ballo-Toure, De Cordova-Reid, Harris.

Booked: Ream, Vinicius Wolverhampton Wanderers (3-5-2): Sa 6; Bueno 6, Kilman 7, Toti 6; Semedo 6, Bellegarde 7 Kalajdzic 62, 6), Lemina 7, Gomes 6, Ait-Nouri 6 (Doherty 19 min, 6); Hwang 8, Cunha 7 (Doyle 83, 6).

Subs: Bentley, Traore, Silva, Bueno, Otto, Sarabia.

Booked: Gomes, Lemina. 

Referee: Michael Salisbury 6.