Fulham’s woes continue with defeat against Leicester
Fulham’s run of games without a Premier League win was extended to 11 games after a James Maddison-inspired Leicester cruised to victory at Craven Cottage.
The defeat leaves the Whites deep in relegation trouble with the gap between them and fourth-bottom Brighton remaining at seven points.
Maddison laid the foundations for a comfortable Foxes success with two brilliant pieces of play that teed up first-half goals for Kelechi Iheanacho and James Justin.
Leicester, who reinforced their top-four credentials, were superior in all departments and the scoreline could have been a lot worse for Scott Parker’s men had three goals not been chalked off for offside.
Brendan Rodgers’ side took the lead with their first meaningful attack after 17 minutes when Joachim Anderson gave away the ball inside his own half and the play was switched to Maddison on the right flank.
The England midfielder hit a delightful instant first-time cross that was headed in by former Manchester City striker Iheanacho.
Fulham created little before the break but Kaspar Schmeichel had to be alert to tip over a Ola Aina header from a Ademola Lookman corner just before Leicester doubled their advantage on the stroke of half-time.
A good run and pass from Ayoze Perez freed Maddison, and he drove into the box, then took out two Fulham defenders with an audacious turn to put the ball on a plate for Justin to fire past Aphonse Areola.
Parker brought on Ivan Cavaleiro and Mario Lemina at half-time in an attempt to get back into the game, but it took until the 80th minute for Fulham go close to scoring.
The chance fell to Bobby Decordova-Reid, who had come on for the ineffectual Ruben Loftus-Cheek, but he fired into the side netting after good work from Aleksander Mitrovic.
Fulham: Areola, Tete (Cavaleiro 46), Aina, Andersen, Adarabioyo, Robinson, Reed, Anguissa (Lemina 46), Lookman, Mitrovic, Loftus-Cheek (Decordova-Reid 65).
Subs not used: Rodak, Hector, Odoi, Ream, Bryan, Onomah.
