Fulham 2 Bournemouth 2
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored from the penalty spot on his return from injury to grab a 2-2 draw for Fulham against Bournemouth in a pulsating Premier League game at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
Dominic Solanke gave the visitors a flying start, combining brilliantly with Danish midfielder Philip Billing and rifling home a first-time finish after 62 seconds.
Mitrovic, recovering from an ankle knock, started slowly but burst into life with a snap shot that was turned behind in the 22nd minute, and Issa Diop brought Fulham level with a thumping header from the resulting corner.
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Bournemouth were back in the lead seven minutes later when a defensive lapse from Fulham was punished, Solanke running at Tim Ream before cutting the ball back to Jefferson Lerma who slotted it past Bernd Leno.
Bournemouth could have gone in two goals up at the break with a well-worked corner, but a brilliant double save from Leno denied Lerma and Adam Smith.
Fulham levelled again early in the second half when Mitrovic was wrestled to the ground by Lerma, and the 28-year-old Serbian striker made no mistake from the spot to net his seventh goal of the season.
With Bournemouth content to sit back, Fulham poured crosses into the box, but a tiring Mitrovic struggled to convert them.
He almost grabbed all three points for his side late on, but his left-foot shot towards the top corner lacked the power to beat Neto and he dragged another shot wide in stoppage time.
The sides remained close together in mid-table, with Bournemouth in ninth spot on 13 points and Fulham 10th, one point adrift.
Leicester City 0 Crystal Palace 0
Leicester City’s poor start to the Premier League season dragged on with a dour goalless draw at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday, although the point they earned moves them off the foot of the table for now.
James Maddison had the best two chances at the King Power Stadium but failed to hit the target on both occasions, while it took more than an hour for Palace to have a shot on target in a clash between two sides short on confidence.
It was a second clean sheet in 10 league games this season for Leicester, who were greeted with boos from sections of the home fans at the final whistle, while it is a second goalless draw in a row away from home for Palace, who have not won on their Premier League travels since April.
There were no clear-cut chances in the first half, with Leicester forward Patson Daka only stinging the palms of visiting goalkeeper Vicente Guaita and Marc Guehi heading over from a free kick at the other end.
Maddison shot wide twice in the second period, while Palace had their first shot on target in the 64th minute as home goalkeeper Danny Ward saved well low to his right to deny Odsonne Edouard.
Leicester will host Leeds United in their next fixture on Thursday, while Palace welcome Wolverhampton Wanderers to Selhurst Park on Tuesday.
Wolves 1 Nottingham Forest 0
Jose Sa continued to shrug off a broken wrist to become Wolves’ penalty hero and plunge Nottingham Forest into deeper trouble.
The goalkeeper has been playing with the injury since the second game of the season but saved Brennan Johnson’s late spot kick to secure a 1-0 win.
It came after Ruben Neves’ controversial penalty helped lift managerless Wolves out of the Premier League’s bottom three.
The midfielder scored just the hosts’ fourth goal of the season to secure a basement battle win and breathe fresh life into their survival hopes.
Referee Thomas Bramall eventually awarded a second-half spot kick for Harry Toffolo’s handball following a four-minute VAR delay.
Despite the contentious nature of the winner, Wolves deserved the points and Max Kilman hit the post in the first half.
Forest, who remain bottom of the Premier League, were left fuming but can have few complaints after a insipid performance which any leveller would have masked.
With their third week without a replacement for Bruno Lage on the horizon, Wolves caretaker boss Steve Davis had underlined the need for improvement and they tried to force this issue without, again, end product.
Rayan Ait Nouri nodded over an Adama Traore centre before the Spain forward slashed wide in the opening 20 minutes but there was little serious threat.
The lack of goals meant the anxiety levels at Molineux rose earlier than usual and the nerves from the stands were obvious when hosts failed to move the ball or press quick enough.
A creaking Diego Costa was willing but impotent, looking like a 34-year-old who had barely played since January, while Traore continued to be wasteful.
To call both sides underwhelming this season could be seen as a complement and as for Forest, they were neat on the ball but lacked any punch.
Scott McKenna had nodded a Morgan Gibbs-White corner over early and they wanted a penalty when Neco Williams’ shot hit Toti’s arm but there was little to trouble Wolves.
Ait Nouri, often the hosts’ best outlet, drilled wide 10 minutes before the break yet it was Kilman who was inches away from an opener four minutes later.
Daniel Podence’s flick found Traore in space and he stood up a cross for Kilman to glance against the post, with the ball bouncing back into Dean Henderson’s arms.
Wolves could consider themselves unfortunate but they had still failed to manage a shot on target while powderpuff Forest needed to find some steel.
The hosts remained in the ascendancy after the break but finally broke the deadlock after 56 minutes.
Traore cut in from the right and his shot deflected behind after striking Toffolo’s arm. VAR official Lee Mason checked the incident but failed to make up his mind before passing the decision on to Bramall.
He then watched several replays before awarding the penalty — four minutes after the initial incident — which Neves emphatically buried.
Lifted, Wolves tried to find a killer second but needed Sa to be the hero 11 minutes from the end.
Again VAR intervened with Bramall eventually going to the monitor to rule Matheus Nunes had tugged back Ryan Yates.
But Sa, who has been nursing his injury since August, went to his left to save Johnson’s spot kick.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022
