Alex Iwobi scores twice as Fulham march past Brighton

Alex Iwobi scored twice as Fulham marched into the top half of the Premier League with a win over Brighton at Craven Cottage.

The Cottagers were pegged back after Iwobi’s quickfire opener by Carlos Baleba’s fine strike early in the second half. But Matt O’Riley’s own goal gifted them the lead again and Iwobi hit his second to ensure Brighton have still never beaten Fulham in the Premier League.

Just three minutes had elapsed when Brighton handed Fulham the lead after playing the ball back to their goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, a few yards to the left of his goal.

The Dutchman was under minimal pressure, but his pass out towards Baleba on the edge of the box was intercepted by Iwobi who strode forward and tucked the ball into an empty net before Verbruggen could scramble back.

Brighton almost hit back when Jan Paul van Hecke’s through-ball sent João Pedro through on goal, but his shot was beaten away by Bernd Leno.

Moments later Fulham’s defender Calvin Bassey provided a one-man wall as he blocked efforts from Baleba and João Pedro in quick succession. Leno kept out Brighton’s best chance to equalise in the first half after Kaoru Mitoma sent in a low cross from the byline.

O’Riley let the ball run to Simon Adingra, whose first-time shot from eight yards out was repelled by an instinctive arm from the Fulham keeper. Fulham could have doubled their advantage in first-half stoppage but Rodrigo Muniz, starting his first match since August, headed Antonee Robinson’s cross wide.

The hosts had another opportunity straight after the restart when Harry Wilson chased a high ball over the top only to skew his volley off target.

Fulham appealed for a penalty when the ball struck the arm of Baleba in the area but play was waved on and the VAR agreed. Brighton withstood the early pressure and responded by winning a corner which Van Hecke headed narrowly over.

The equaliser came moments later, and for all Brighton’s slick short passing it came from Van Hecke’s straightforward ball over the top.

João Pedro did brilliantly to cushion the ball into the path of Baleba, with the Cameroon youngster bludgeoning a low shot from the edge of the box past Leno into the corner. But Fulham went ahead again with 11 minutes remaining when the substitute Andreas Pereira swung in a corner. The ball skimmed off the head of Bassey and went in off the back of the unfortunate O’Riley.

With three minutes left, Iwobi spun away from two Brighton defenders before curling past Verbruggen into the far corner to secure the victory for the upwardly-mobile hosts.

Iwobi told Amazon Prime that he felt he should be scoring more often: “We wanted to get a win on the board after our last game against Spurs. No better place to do it than at our place.

“I should be getting more goals but it was good to get them for the team. We know Brighton like to play and so do we. I was able to capitalise on the high press.

“We know that Brighton like to play out from the back so we came up with a structure and it obviously worked for the first goal. We take it, however, it goes in, a goal is a goal. We wanted a goal from a set piece because we were a real threat last season.”

Fulham’s manager Marco Silva told Amazon Prime: “It was a big three points for us in a tough game. We started in the best way possible with the early goal but Brighton made it really difficult for us in the first half. They started with three at the back and it made it difficult for us to connect with the wide players.”