Things were always going to be tight in this battle of two of the Premier League’s more upwardly mobile sides and so it proved until the fifth minute of added time. At that stage, it looked as though Jan Paul van Hecke’s header that cancelled out Raúl Jiménez’s excellent strike would give Brighton and Fulham a share of the points. But a contentious late penalty from João Pedro, after he was fouled by the substitute Harrison Reed, gave Fabian Hürzeler’s side a sixth straight victory in all competitions to lift them up to sixth place and leave Marco Silva fuming at the injustice of it all. The Fulham manager stood motionless at the final whistle after the referee, Sam Barrott, pointed at the spot, barely able to believe his side had been beaten. The sun may have been shining on the south coast but the tempo of this game throughout reflected the fact there was no chance of either side being on the beach just yet. Both booked their places in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup last weekend and – even if they are now separated by four points – continue to harbour realistic ambitions of qualifying for Europe next season via the Premier League. Continue reading...

Maybe Newcastle were distracted by the prospect of reaching Wembley on Wednesday night or perhaps they have simply hit a bit of a mid-winter wall but, whatever the precise reason, they could not cope with Adama Traoré and his friends from Fulham. The visiting right winger excelled on the counterattack as goals from Raúl Jiménez and Rodrigo Muniz consigned Eddie Howe’s side to a second successive home defeat. Quite apart from denting their hopes of Champions League qualification it was hardly an ideal dress rehearsal for Newcastle’s midweek Carabao Cup semi-final second leg home date with Arsenal. Continue reading...