It took until the 94th minute of the fourth game of the season but Fulham have their first win. A spectacular goal it was too – “one in 10,000” – that settled a largely excitement-free affair and it didn’t come from a home player but Marco Silva couldn’t care a jot. You couldn’t say the same for Leeds’ Daniel Farke and, in particular, Gabriel Gudmundsson.
Just when it seemed as if both sides had settled for a point, Kevin, the Brazilian winger signed by Fulham on deadline day, brought the energy that Silva had seen at Shakhtar Donetsk and convinced him to pay £34.6m. His turn and shot produced a flying fingertip save from Karl Darlow. Such were the slim pickings, that in itself was one of the game’s highlights.
The ensuing corner by Sasa Lukic was not threatening in the least but Gudmundsson, under no pressure, stooped and met the ball with such force that Darlow had no chance of preventing the own goal that flew in from 12 yards out. It was Farke who called it “one in 10,000”.
While the manager did his best to compliment his players on their efforts, crestfallen does not do it for Leeds, whose miserable run in the capital stretches to nine consecutive Premier League defeats, back to May 2022. When the fixture list came out, two games in London in the early part of this season might have sent shivers down Farke’s spine. Their last game before the international break was their hammering at Arsenal.
Farke’s assessment of the defeat and, in particular its manner, was stark. “Football is cruel.” As for how Gudmundsson was feeling, Farke said he would need to give his Sweden defender “a little hug”.
For Silva there was the warm afterglow of not only a new player showing his worth immediately but also a well-timed substitution. Fourteen minutes was all Kevin had to play with but he used them well, though Silva thought Fulham had changed the momentum in their favour after a poor first half in which they did not manage a shot on target.
He said: “Even before Kevin came in I thought the tempo was different and Sasa Lukic went close. The substitutes came in and made a massive impact. And in moments like this you need players with a different profile, like Kevin. It was a moment for us to push forward more and he did it. Great feeling for us. Of course not a great feeling for Daniel and the boys.” That is, quite possibly, the understatement of the season.
For the first 45 minutes there had been little warning of the excitement to come. Only Sean Longstaff, after a long free-kick taken by Darlow, had a shot on goal but it cleared Bernd Leno and the Fulham bar.
It took until the second half for anyone to test a goalkeeper and it was Leeds who took the initiative. Three minutes after the interval, Anton Stach worked his way down the left and to the byline. He dinked in a cross to Brenden Aaronson and his first-time shot was well saved low to his left by Leno.
Spurred into action, Fulham finally tested Darlow and brought a flying save from the former Newcastle goalkeeper after 58 minutes. Having won a free-kick 25 yards out, Harry Wilson, whose move to Leeds fell through on deadline day, curled a free-kick that seemed set for the top corner before Darlow pawed it away. With 20 minutes left, Rodrigo Muniz offered a tame downward header that was easy for the goalkeeper to gather.
Silva could see his side were finally stirring but goals have been hard to come by for them this season, with only two in their first three games, even if they had one perfectly good goal ruled out at Chelsea last month. With Muniz offering little in attack and not getting enough service from Wilson or Alex Iwobi, they appeared increasingly short of ideas.
However Silva does have options on the bench in Adama Traoré, Raúl Jiménez and Emile Smith Rowe but it was Kevin who everyone wanted to see and, in the nick of time, the man from São Paulo duly delivered.
