Wolves promoted to Premier League after Fulham draw with Brentford
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Wolves promoted to Premier League after Fulham draw with Brentford
Wolverhampton Wanderers have secured promotion to the Premier League after Fulham let slip a last-minute goal at home to Brentford in a frustrating 1-1 draw.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side play Birmingham on Sunday, but Fulham dropping points means that now only Cardiff can theoretically catch the Championship’s runaway leaders.
Wolves have won 28 of their 42 league games this term to seal a return to the top flight after a six-season absence.
At Craven Cottage, a goal from the in-form Aleksandar Mitrovic with 20 minutes to go put Fulham on course for victory, but a 90th-minute header from substitute Neal Maupay saw the visitors grab a late point.
Fulham’s form is still the best in the division – they’re now 21 games unbeaten – but the Cottagers let slip a huge opportunity to jump back into their desired finish of second place. And although with a minute to go they were heading for their fifth win in a row, as the whistle went Slavisa Jokanovic’s players trudged off the field feeling like they’d parted with none.
Despite the intense noise from around the ground, it took a while for Fulham to get into the groove and build towards an attack in the slick style they’ve been used to in the latter stages of the season. The first half carried most of the action, despite both goals coming later on.
Brentford came out of the traps flying, and almost caught out the Fulham defence early on. A hoofed ball forward to Ollie Watkins found him in space. The forward should have kept going, but even with a quick one-two with Florian Jozefoon, which then opened up a gap, he was halted quickly in the box – with the subsequent penalty claims coming to nothing.
Seconds later, Watkins was put through once again, somehow finding another gap. Referee Neil Swarbrick pulled it back for offside. The replay showed it was the wrong call.
Top scorer Ryan Sessegnon finally got the crowd going again after a lull as he drove down the left wing. His cross met the low diving header of Yoann Barbet – which just missed his own crossbar.
Brentford were still getting chances they wouldn’t have expected from a team unbeaten at home since October. Tim Ream gave the ball away and Jozefoon capitalised, but, despite being given time and space in the box, put his shot straight down the middle for Marcus Bettinelli to tip over.
Sessegnon thought he had his moment to open the scoring as he was put through by a neat Mitrovic pass in the box, but fired straight at keeper Daniel Bentley.
Fulham started to play with more competence going forward. They weren’t handed the same kind of chances they were giving away to begin with, slowly edging into the game which felt more level as it neared the end of the first half.
Bees defender Barbet had two huge chances to head home an opener for Brentford. First from a free kick, which Bettinelli was quick to get a glove to, and then from a corner which bounced over. His teammate Andreas Bjallend, somehow finding himself to the right-hand side of the penalty, took a shot which grazed the upright.
As the second half commenced, both sides seemed subdued, lacking edge and having already used up their chances.
With 20 minutes to go, against the run of play in a slow second half, Fulham finally stepped up. Johansen layed the ball off for Mitrovic just outside the Bretford box who hit it sweetly first time, rattling in off the left-hand post. The home fans were awake again.
Tom Cairney very nearly doubled their lead with around 10 minutes to go, but his curling shot from outside the box drifted inches wide of the post.
When Fulham seemed to finally have a handle on the game, Brentford struck. A ball into the box to Jozefoon, who was in an offside position, was headed back across to Maupay. The striker was unmarked and happily headed it in. Cheers went up from the away end – and across the town of Wolverhampton.
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