Emile Smith Rowe scored on his home debut, his first Premier League goal for nearly two and a half years, combining with another former Arsenal player to help Fulham win their first home game of the season.
Smith Rowe opened his Premier League account for the Cottagers with a well-placed finish in the 18th minute. Despite losing their lead when Leicester’s Wout Faes equalised with a header, Fulham bounced back from last week’s late defeat at Manchester United with a winner from Alex Iwobi earning them their first three points of the season.
Marco Silva was impressed with the 24-year-old Smith Rowe, who was signed from Arsenal for a reported £27m. The Fulham manager said: “It’s always important [to get the first goal] when you sign a talent like him, it’s important to have the impact. We signed him not only just for now but for a long time.”
Fulham found their groove early on through Adama Traoré, who pulled the strings on the right. The rapid wide-man forced the Mads Hermansen in Leicester’s goal into action with a driven shot with his left foot toward the bottom-right corner before he created another chance with a deft reversed pass moments later.
Traoré’s first season in west London was marred by injury but he is now fit and looked eager to impress Silva, with the early signs suggesting he is an adequate replacement for the departed Willian. His quality start to the match continued when he was instrumental in Fulham’s opening goal. Traoré drifted into midfield, where he skipped past two players before slipping through Smith Rowe. The midfielder showed composure in a one-on-one with Hermansen, placing his effort into the corner to give the hosts the lead.
Fulham’s bright start was undone when a misplaced pass by Calvin Bassey put his side under pressure before Leicester equalised from the subsequent corner in the 38th minute. The Brighton loanee Facundo Buonanotte delivered a wonderfully curled inswinging corner that met the head of the defender Faes, who powered his effort into the bottom left-hand corner to make it 1-1.
The goal was originally ruled out for offside but Darren Bond was sent to the monitor and deemed Jamie Vardy not to have interfered with Bernd Leno’s efforts to make a save.
After the interval, Bobby Decordova-Reid was applauded off by the home fans when Steve Cooper substituted the winger. The Jamaica international ended his five-season stay at Craven Cottage when he moved to Leicester this summer on a free transfer.
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The start of the second half lacked quality, with a speculative bicycle kick attempt from Rodrigo Muniz, which ballooned over the bar, as close as Fulham came to restoring their lead until a well-worked move enabled Iwobi to put the hosts ahead in the 70th minute. After a fizzed pass into Antonee Robinson the left-back produced a first‑time lofted pass that unleashed the winger and his drilled effort cannoned off Hermansen and into the net to win it.
Cooper said: “We thought the game was there for us at half‑time. It changed a little bit and we couldn’t capitalise on that. We had tired legs and then their goal came … We are really disappointed that we lost.”