Adama Traoré on target as Fulham send Leicester to seventh straight loss

Emile Smith Rowe and Adama Traoré struck in the second half as Fulham inflicted a seventh successive Premier League defeat on Leicester. The hosts provided another solid first-half showing but ultimately paid the price for a lack of quality and failed to learn their lessons from their midweek second-half collapse to Crystal Palace in a similar display in front of their own fans.

Their defensive fragility showed after the interval and they conceded early for the second time in the space of a week courtesy of Smith-Rowe’s fourth goal of the campaign. A hostile home atmosphere did not improve Leicester’s performance and Fulham ensured a return to winning ways as the substitute Traoré handed Ruud van Nistelrooy’s relegation-threatened team a seventh loss from his first 10 games in all competitions.

The Leicester manager was also the target of negative chants from the home stands just a few weeks after the goalkeeper Danny Ward had received the same treatment. The Foxes were quick out of the traps and were almost rewarded for their fast start but Bernd Leno was alert to keep out Jordan Ayew from close range inside a minute.

Leno was brought into action again as Timothy Castagne aimed to swipe Jamie Vardy’s teasing delivery out for a corner but inadvertently sent it goalwards and the Fulham goalkeeper was quick off his mark to bat it behind. The Leicester defender Victor Kristiansen decided to venture up the field and skilfully weaved his way into the box but could not find the target.

It took 36 minutes for Fulham to pose a threat. Calvin Bassey found space on the edge of the box and whistled an effort just wide of the far post before Antonee Robinson found the side-netting. Fulham failed to really trouble Leicester in the first 45 minutes but nervous home supporters gasped when the visitors came forward, with Robinson and Bassey seeing efforts blocked by Bilal El Khannouss.

Leicester were caught cold following half-time as Fulham hit the front three minutes after the restart. The hosts were split open from Raúl Jiménez’s long ball over the top which found Harry Wilson, he cleverly kept the ball in play and his delivery was nodded on by Sasa Lukic and into the path of Smith Rowe, who tapped into an empty net.

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Boos rang around the stadium when El Khannouss was withdrawn from the action, with chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing” aimed at the Leicester dugout. Fulham further dampened the mood inside the King Power Stadium with a second in the 68th minute. Harry Wilson’s ball into the box picked out an unmarked Traoré, whose first-time effort found the bottom corner of the net.

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