Pablo Sarabia’s first goal for the club was enough for just one point at Craven Cottage, as Wolves and Fulham battled out an entertaining draw down by the Thames.
The Spaniard’s crisp finish and clever assist from Raul Jimenez had Wolves ahead at the break, and they were good value for it, with Sarabia having gone close earlier in the half and Ruben Neves heading over for Julen Lopetegui’s side.
The Cottagers rang the changes at the break, and one new addition Manor Solomon curled home a fine equaliser, before Wolves turned their thanks to Jose Sa, whose brilliant save to deny Carlos Vinicius at the death helped preserve a point.
Showing no lack of confidence after last week’s defeat, the first-half down in west London belonged to Wolves. Two recognised strikers brought a new dimension to Lopetegui’s attack and the support of Matheus Nunes and Sarabia caused Fulham constant problems.
Sarabia has looked lively in Wolves colours so far and he would have been disappointed his first goal for the club didn’t arrive on 21 minutes, when Jimenez and Nelson Semedo combined down the right to create the opening, but the Spaniard shot straight at Bernd Leno.
He made up for it minutes later, however, in emphatic fashion. Nunes’ cross was deliberately deep and allowed Jimenez to nod back perfectly into the path of Sarabia, who this time went on his right and drilled low into the bottom corner, across Leno’s dive.
Despite Wolves impressing, there were chances at either end to make the half-time score look very different. Vinicius headed into the arms of Sa, after a good cross by Bobby De Cordova-Reid, while the Cottagers came close on the stroke of half-time when Andreas Pereira’s free-kick was turned over.
Wolves themselves could have had a second however, after Hugo Bueno got in down the left and played back for Nunes, who again crossed impressively – a theme of the first-half – and while Neves met his delivery, the captain couldn’t keep his effort down.
Half-time | Fulham 0-1 Wolves
Encouraged by their first half display, Wolves were on the look-out for number two quickly after the break, and Maximilian Kilman headed a Neves free-kick on to the roof of the net, before Jimenez glanced wide Sarabia’s in swinging cross.
However, as Wolves looked for the second, they were hit at the opposite end by a piece of brilliance. There wasn’t a whole lot the old gold could do as Solomon came inside a curled a sublime finish into the bottom corner from the edge of the box to draw the hosts level.
From that point, the game turned a little scrappy, with neither side able to grab a foothold on proceedings. Craig Dawson did look to have produced the instant response when he got his head to Neves’ free-kick, but a crucial block stopped it tested Leno.
The biggest chance of the game came deep into added time when Harry Wilson held up a cross for Vinicius, who got a good header to the ball, but Sa worked wonders at full-stretch to turn his effort around the post – a brilliant piece of goalkeeping to earn Wolves their point.
Full-time | Fulham 1-1 Wolves
Fulham | Leno, Tete, Diop, Ream, Robinson, Reed (Lukic 46), Palhinha, De Cordova-Reid (Solomon 46), Pereira, Willian (Wilson 83), Vinicius.
Unused subs | Rodak, Kurzawa, Tosin, Duffy, Soares, James.
Wolves | Sa, Semedo, Dawson, Kilman, Bueno, Lemina, Neves, Nunes (Moutinho 76), Cunha (Adama 60), Sarabia (Podence 76), Jimenez (Costa 84).
Unused subs | Bentley, Jonny, Ait-Nouri, Collins, Gomes.
