FULHAM 5-3 LEICESTER

Fulham came out on the right side of an eight-goal thriller at Craven Cottage to defeat Leicester City.

There were braces for Willian and Tom Cairney, while Carlos Vinicius was also on target.

Two for Harvey Barnes and a James Maddison penalty in the second half made it a contest, but it was the Whites who took the win.

Marco Silva made two changes to his starting XI, bringing Kenny Tete and Harrison Reed back in from the off.

After a couple of half chances for Tosin at set-pieces, it was through a similar means that we went in front on 11 minutes. After Cairney and Antonee Robinson were both fouled wide on the right, Willian sent in a wicked curling delivery that bounced right in front of Daniel Iversen, throwing the City goalkeeper off completely and bouncing into the far corner of the net.

The visitors threatened a response when Maddison evaded three challenges in the box before squaring for Barnes, but the winger skewed wide under close scrutiny from Tete.

We then went straight up the other end with Harry Wilson who slipped in Reed. His angled drive was deflected behind by Caglar Soyuncu, with Tosin heading over from the corner.

And it was another driving run through the middle from Wilson that led to goal number two, with the Wales international waiting until the perfect moment to feed Vinicius’ run. With Iversen onrushing, Vinicius showed fine composure to just roll the ball in the other direction to double his team’s lead.

Leicester should have quickly got one back when Jamie Vardy read Robinson’s pass to burst through on goal, but Bernd Leno made an outstanding save to deny the former England striker.

Reed must have thought he’d scored with his snapshot following exquisite link-up between Cairney and Willian, but Iversen made a crucial block, before then denying Tete from the edge of the box.

The Foxes had a couple of half chances from range which caused Leno no concern, and at the other end Vinicius glanced a Tete cross wide at the far post as we tried to put the game to bed before the break.

That third goal did arrive on the stroke of half-time, and it was lovely. João Palhinha won a crunching tackle high up the pitch, Reed backheeled into Vinicius, who in turn found Cairney. The skipper then sat Soyuncu down before curling a sumptuous low shot inside the far post on his rarely-used right foot.

Barnes almost gave Leicester the perfect start to the second half with his placed effort across goal, but Leno got down at full stretch to push it wide.

Craven Cottage was then in uproar when Wilson’s immaculate first touch sent him through on goal, only to be wiped out by Boubakary Soumare. No decision came, though.

But spirits were quickly restored. Tete embarked on a barnstorming run down the right, looked up, and squared to Cairney who opened his body up to pass coolly beyond Iversen for 4-0.

Barnes did give the away fans behind the goal something to cheer just before the hour mark, smashing in off the bar after Maddison found him in space in the box.

We could have had a very different game on our hands after Vardy beat Leno to a through ball and was tripped by the Fulham goalkeeper. Redemption was afoot, though, with Leno guessing the correct way to palm away Vardy’s spot-kick.

We soon went from an incredibly nervy moment, back to the joy of a four-goal lead. Reed switched the play to Willian who brought the ball back inside and unleashed an absolute laser into the corner from 25 yards.

Leicester threatened to reduce the deficit once again with a couple of good efforts – Maddison’s free-kick just clearing the crossbar, and substitute Tetê shooting inches wide.

They were then given another lifeline from the penalty spot after Maddison went flying following a touch from Palhinha, and he picked himself up to slot home.

A bizarre game saw them reduce the deficit further still when substitute Patson Daka was able to tee up Barnes for a simple finish following a mix-up in the Fulham box.

It made for a nervier finale than it needed to have been, but the lads professionally saw out a hefty period of stoppage time to bank all the points.