The season’s been going swimmingly for Nottingham Forest so far and they’ve not had to deal with too many setbacks. They had to deal with one today though as they were punished for a slow start in the capital.
The thorn in the side of many teams this term, Adama Traoré was heavily involved, skipping past Neco Williams and standing a ball up to the far post which Emile Smith-Rowe headed home.
The Welsh full back was being tormented throughout the first half by Traoré and it looked like he was going to be in for a long afternoon.
The Cottagers can probably count themselves a little unlucky not to have doubled their advantage shortly after the half-hour mark when Raúl Jiménez headed goalwards, but a fine Matz Sels stop denied him.
Fulham found out the hard way that what happens when you fail to take chances too, when they were pegged back before the break.
Morgan Gibbs-White’s lofted ball forward was taken well by Chris Wood, who dragged onto his left and planted his 18th league goal of the season into the corner.
That seemed to be the tonic the hosts needed to warm to the task again. Fulham seemed rejuvenated after the break and got the just rewards when Jiménez’s near post flick-on was steered home at the back post by Calvin Bassey - his first goal of the season.
There was precious little to go off in the second half where final third action was concerned, which certainly didn’t inspire hope of a Forest comeback.
Callum Hudson-Odoi tried his luck in the latter stages but Bernd Leno was equal to his effort as the visitors’ hopes started to dwindle.
That proved to be their last real sighting of goal as they slipped to only a second defeat from their last 11 league matches, although that was a blow to their European hopes.
Fulham’s continental quest took a huge boost with victory though as they moved closer to the top seven.