Raul Jimenez reminded Sean Dyche there is still work to do before Nottingham Forest can consider the relegation fight a thing of the past.
Dyche collected 13 points from his first eight Premier League games as Forest boss, easing fears at the City Ground.
Here though, his team were flat and Fulham have played much better and lost in recent weeks but Jimenez converted a disputed penalty in first half stoppage time to clinch the points to take Marco Silva’s team up in the 13th.
Daily Mail Sport’s MATT BARLOW takes a look at the biggest talking points from the game…
RIO UPON THAMES
Brazil boss Carlo Ancelotti’s coaching assistant Paul Clement was spotted at Craven Cottage, casting an eye across five Brazilians who started. Four of them in the Forest team and Kevin, on the left wing for Fulham.
There were as many starters eligible for Brazil as there were for England and yet two English No.10s. There’s a reversal of stereotypes for you, and fuel for the theory that Premier League academies are producing a surfeit of technical ball players and a lot less of everything else.
The visitors had Morgan Gibbs-White operating at No.10, with wingers Callum Hudson-Odoi and Omari Hutchinson and Elliot Anderson in midfield with Douglas Luiz, an Anglo-Brazilian front six.
Emile Smith Rowe was the lone English representative for Fulham, who lined up with a team of 11 different nationalities.
MISERABLE RETURNS FOR LUIZ
Not a lot has gone right for Douglas Luiz since his return to the Premier League, on loan at Forest on loan from Juventus. First, he was among those identified by Edu that drove Nuno Espirito Santo, the head coach who led them back into Europe, apart from owner Evangelos Marinakis.
With Nuno gone, Luiz was sidelined by injury and on this return to the team, his recovery nicely timed with Ibrahim Sangare off on international duty with the Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), he conceded a penalty in first half stoppage time with a kick from behind on Kevin.
It was firmly in the soft category. Kevin overreacted and Forest complained but once given by referee Anthony Taylor it was not going to be overturned.
Still, there were two minutes spent prevaricating. John Victor was then booked for delaying it further and we were into the fifth added minute by the time Raul Jimenez stuttered up to the ball and scored his third Premier League goal of the season from the only shot on target in a forgettable first half.
RAUL’S HAUL
Jimenez remains a master in the art of the centre forward. He is 34 and getting very little relief at the moment with Rodrigo Muniz out injured but he never fails to disturb the central defenders or threaten in the air.
He missed two very good chances, a near post header into the side netting in the first half from the corner of six-yard box from a cross by Antonee Robinson cross. It was an excellent chance by his standards. He missed another late in the game.
KEVIN STILL STRUGGLING
Having spent a club record £34.6million to bring him in from Shakhtar Donetsk the jury is still firmly out on Kevin and in the absence of Samuel Chukwueze, one of three influential Fulham players away with Nigeria at the AFCON, it was a chance to settle in the team, pick up the tempo of the English game and impress.
He won the penalty thanks to his quick feet and persistence but more often a source of frustration. He aggravated the home crowd at Craven Cottage as moves broke down on him with careless passes and poor decision making when in promising situations. He also upset those in the away end with his falling down and rolling around routine.
Kevin is only 22, clearly talented with time on his side, although his struggles are a reminder of other wingers who failed to make the step from Ukraine’s wartime football and establish in the Premier League, such as Mykhailo Mudryk and Manor Solomon.
The cheer when he was replaced by Josh King near the end was tinged with relief.
FOREST RESPONSE
Neco Williams summoned Forest’s first shot on target early in second half, although it was nothing more than a routine save for Bernd Leno.
The visitors certainly improved after the interval, peppered Leno’s goal with shots from distance and yet found it difficult to penetrate Fulham’s back line, superbly marshalled by Joachim Andersen and Jorge Cuenca, deputising for Calvin Bassey, also at the AFCON.
Perhaps Nikola Milenkovic was trying to jolt his team into life and rattle the centre halves when he squared up to Cuenca late on. It didn’t work.
