Loss to Bournemouth crushes Fulham’s European hopes

Fulham 0

Bournemouth 1

Rayan (53′)

Fulham’s hopes of European football next season were all but extinguished following a defeat by Bournemouth at Craven Cottage, where both teams had a man sent off. 

A second-half goal from Rayan was enough to take the points back to the south coast – after Ryan Christie and Whites defender Joachim Andersen had been dismissed in the first half.

Marco Silva’s side dropped down to 11th in the Premier League with two games remaining.

It took the hosts until the 28th minute to create a scoring chance, but Rodrigo Muniz flashed a header just wide of the post.

Bournemouth went down to 10 men four minutes before half-time.

From a non-threatening position on the right side, Christie lunged in on Timothy Castagne. The original yellow card was upgraded to red.

Andersen then headed against the crossbar in the best chance of the half as the Whites sought to profit from the extra man.

However, in first-half stoppage time, Andersen saw red after a reckless, two-footed challenge on Adrien Truffert.

Andoni Iraola’s side broke the deadlock on 53 minutes.

Rayan picked up possession 25 yards out and swerved a left-foot shot low into the corner of the net which caught out keeper Bernd Leno.

Fulham substitute Josh King fired a shot against the bar as the home side searched for an equaliser.

Fulham: Leno, Robinson, Bassey, Andersen, Castagne (Kusii-Asare 82), Ukic, Cairney (King 75), Chukwueze (Kevin 61), Smith-Rowe (Diop 46), Wilson (Bobb 61), Muniz