Fulham continued their fine form as Aleksandar Mitrovic’s first-half finish was enough to see off Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.
The striker chested down Willian’s cross before firing home from close range in the 17th minute to help the Cottagers win their third successive match since the Premier League returned after the World Cup break.
Leicester almost leveled through Youri Tielemans, who smashed an 80th-minute effort against the crossbar.
Ayoze Perez also went close for the Foxes, failing to convert a Tielemans cross, while Fulham keeper Bernd Leno made an important stop to deny Harvey Barnes.
Leicester, who was greeted with boos at the full-time whistle, fell to a third defeat on the bounce and remain three points above the bottom three in the 13th.
Fulham’s latest win means they now sit on 28 points in seventh place – and in a Europa Conference League spot.
In their last two Premier League campaigns they went down with 26 points in 2018-19 and 28 in 2020-21.
But relegation fights feel like a thing of the past for Marco Silva’s men, who had the first chance through Willian’s curling shot.
The Brazilian then set up Mitrovic, whose opener was his second goal in three games and 11th of the campaign to equal his season’s best in the top flight.
The only blot on the Serbian’s record was a 78th-minute yellow card for a foul on Barnes, which will rule him out of Fulham’s next league match with Chelsea next Thursday.
Fulham had a chance to double their lead in injury time but Harry Wilson scuffed his shot narrowly wide when one-on-one with Leicester keeper Danny Ward.
While Fulham has shone since the resumption, Leicester’s form has been dull, even if they were unfortunate in their defeat to Liverpool last time out.
Having gone behind, the Foxes grew into this match with Jamie Vardy and Marc Albrighton having decent chances before the break.
Barnes was denied in the second half by Leno when through on goal, while Vardy, Tielemans, and Perez all could have gained a morale-boosting point for their side.
Leicester though fell to a third home defeat in a row without scoring for the first time since 1983.
Brendon Rodgers’ team also finished the game down on two key midfielders, with Boubakary Soumare suffering a hamstring injury in the first half and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall injured in the warm-up.
Both sides are in FA Cup third-round action on Saturday with Leicester at League Two Gillingham and Fulham visiting Championship side Hull City.
source – BBC