LONDON (AP) — Fulham ended Nottingham Forest’s five-game unbeaten run in the English Premier League with a deserved 2-0 win at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
A goal in either half from Willian and substitute Manor Solomon earned Marco Silva’s team a first victory in four matches and lifted it up to seventh in the standings.
Forest remained just six points above the relegation zone after a subdued performance.
The visitor endured a cruel and record-breaking blow after only seven minutes, losing central defensive pair Willy Boly and Scott McKenna to injury — the earliest in league history that a team replaced two of the starting XI.
Fulham did not need long to take advantage of Forest’s misfortune.
Bobby Decordova-Reid’s cross was only half-cleared by Renan Lodi and the ball fell to Willian, who cut inside the Forest defender and blasted a shot into the top corner in the 20th minute for Fulham’s first league goal since Jan. 12.
Forest, clearly rocked by its early bad luck, was clinging on. Decordova-Reid smacked the crossbar with a crisp, flying drive from 25 yards that had Navas beaten, then Andreas Pereira collected Willian’s ball inside and hit a curling shot with his left foot that went just wide.
The second half brought little respite for Cooper’s side as Fulham’s confidence and control of the game started to build.
Cooper sent on Jonjo Shelvey for his Forest debut in search of greater presence in midfield, but the direction of the tide would not turn. Instead, it was Fulham which struck the woodwork for a third time when Pereira’s 25-yard free kick bounced off the crossbar.
Finally, Forest threatened as Emmanuel Dennis fired narrowly over in the 65th and, moments later, Serge Aurier’s header was brilliantly beaten away at point-blank range by Bernd Leno.
Forest kept up a vague, lingering threat almost until the end, but it was Fulham which had the last word when substitute Solomon, on for the excellent Willian, drilled past Keylor Navas two minutes from time for his first Fulham goal since joining from Ukrainian team Shakhtar Donetsk in the offseason.
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