Fulham 1 Wolves 1 - Report

Julen Lopetegui's side dominated the first half and looked dangerous in attack, spurred on by the forward combination of Raul Jimenez and Matheus Cunha.

Several nice team moves had plenty of promise, and one finally delivered when January signing Sarabia fired Wolves into the lead.

The away fans, loud and jubilant all game, continued to support as Wolves threatened to double their lead.

Lopetegui's men started the second half well, too, and Jimenez had a glorious chance when he headed behind a Sarabia cross.

Wolves were dealt a blow when Cunha was stretchered off after an hour with a suspected ankle injury, as the club sweat on his fitness for crucial upcoming games.

It then went from bad to worse when Fulham equalised from nowhere. Manor Solomon, who came on as a half-time substitute, curled home a brilliant effort from the edge of the box, with Jose Se seemingly unsighted and diving late.

With the home crowd buoyed by the goal, Fulham enjoyed more of the ball in the second half but were unable to find a winner, as Jose Sa pulled off a remarkable save to deny Carlos Vinicius in added time.

Analysis

Lopetegui made two changes to the side that lost to Bournemouth last week, and started in a 4-4-2 formation.

Mario Lemina came straight back in after completing his one-match suspension, while Jimenez also made the starting XI, as Joao Moutinho and Adama Traore dropped to the bench.

As a result of Lemina returning, Joe Hodge dropped out of the squad.

Marco Silva made one change from his side after their 1-0 win over Brighton, starting in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Carlos Vinicius came in as Harry Wilson dropped to the bench, meaning Bobby De Cordova-Reid moved out wide.

Wolves dominated possession in the opening five minutes but failed to do anything with it. Once the hosts found their feet, they began to find space out wide and on one occasion an Antonee Robinson cross almost found Andreas Pereira in the box.

However, Wolves found a good overload on the left flank as Hugo Bueno was found in space. His low cross was aimed for Jimenez, but Tim Ream made a vital interception.

A nice Wolves move saw Jimenez and Nelson Semedo combine down the right, before the ball was worked to Sarabia. His shot was well hit, but straight at Bernd Leno.

Just moments later, a similar move saw Wolves take the lead. A flowing move from right to left resulted in Matheus Nunes whipping in a cross towards Jimenez at the back post. He headed back to Sarabia, who took a touch and fired into the bottom corner, for his first goal in Wolves colours.

Fulham were struggling to get into the game, but were almost handed a gift when a hopeful cross-field ball saw Nunes miss his defensive header and give De Cordova-Reid the ball in plenty of space, but his cross was cleared.

After that, Vinicius had a big chance. A cross came in and the striker had a free header inside the box, but his effort was straight at Jose Sa.

At the other end, a Nunes cross was met by Ruben Neves, who beat Robinson in the air, but his header flew over the bar.

A neat one-two then allowed Kenny Tete to drive towards goal, but he dragged an effort wide.

As the game entered half-time, Wolves were good value for their 1-0 lead after limiting Fulham’s chances and putting together some really nice attacking moves.

As the teams emerged for the second half, Fulham brought on Solomon and Sasa Lukic, for De Cordova-Reid and Harrison Reed.

Wolves started the second half as they left the first, on top. A nice Bueno cross almost landed on Cunha’s head, but Fulham made a good defensive header.

Jimenez, who was having his best game for some time, had a glorious chance only minutes after the restart. A cross from Sarabia came but Jimenez’s header was just wide.

A back-and-forth encounter then saw Fulham get a chance. A cross from the left was aimed at Pereira but Max Kilman made a superb interception.

Wolves were already starting to run the clock down and frustrate the home fans, with Fulham reacting angrily to some players going down injured.

However, Cunha had genuinely picked up a nasty knock to what looked like his ankle, and had to be stretchered off after an hour. Adama took his place.

Once the game restarted, Fulham scored an equaliser from nowhere. Solomon picked the ball up on the left, cut inside, and curled a wonderful effort into the far corner from the edge of the box.

Wolves almost responded immediately when Craig Dawson had a header deflected onto the roof of the net. From the resulting corner, Lemina did brilliantly to flick the ball on into a dangerous area, but the second ball was cleared with Kilman lurking.

As the game entered eight minutes of added time, Vinicius beat Dawson with a goal-bound header, but Sa pulled off a remarkable fingertip save, as Wolves took a point back to the Black Country.

Key Moments

GOAL 23 Sarabia puts Wolves ahead

GOAL 64 Solomon equalises for Fulham

Teams

Wolves: Sa, Semedo, Dawson, Kilman, Bueno, Lemina, Neves, Nunes (Moutinho, 76), Sarabia (Podence, 76), Cunha (Adama, 60), Jimenez (Costa, 84).

Subs not used: Bentley, Collins, Jonny, Ait-Nouri, Gomes.

Fulham: Leno, Tete, Diop, Ream, Robinson, Palhinha, Reed (Lukic, 45), De Cordova-Reid (Solomon, 45), Pereira, Willian (Wilson, 83), Vinicius.

Subs not used: Rodak, Tosin, Duffy, Kurzawa, Soares, James.