West Brom 2 Fulham 2 - Report

The Baggies were all at sea in an opening period when Fulham should have had far reward for their domination than just Bobby Decordova-Reid’s goal, but the half time arrival of new striker Mbaye Diagne seemed to spur Albion into action.

Kyle Bartley’s expert finish just after the interval brought Albion level before Diagne’s low cross was despatched by Matheus Pereira raising hopes of a vital Baggies win.

But Fulham substitutes Harrison Reid and Ivan Cavaleiro combined for the latter to head home the equaliser to leave both teams with a point and adrift of Brighton and potential Premier League safety.

Report

Boss Sam Allardyce made two changes from the team which had been on the end of a 5-0 drubbing from Manchester City in midweek.

Bartley returned to the Baggies defence and Conor Gallagher to the midfield with Romaine Sawyers and Karlan Grant dropping to the bench.

There was also a place on the bench for striker Diagne following his loan arrival from Galatasaray, but Grady Diangana was still unavailable through injury.

It was an understandably cagey start to the game, although Kieran Gibbs and Jake Livermore were both caught in possession in the early stages which Fulham were unable to capitalise on.

Fulham then started to pass the ball around with some degree of confidence and took the lead in the tenth minute.

Aleksander Mitrovic controlled a through ball from Ademola Lookman before turning and slipping in Decordova-Reid who had time to steady himself before drilling beyond Sam Johnstone into the bottom corner.

Albion just hadn’t got going and shortly after the breakthrough the visitors had another opening with Mitrovic again at the fore.

The Serbian striker fed Ruben Loftus-Cheek down the inside left and his shot across goal was comfortably saved by Johnstone.

Albion responded by winning the game’s first corner and Matheus Pereira’s deep delivery was headed into the danger area by Bartley only for Fulham to clear.

Incredibly Fulham were only a lick of paint away from making it two on 18 minutes.

Decordova-Reid again found acres of space down the inside right channel, and again had time to steady himself, and although his shot beat Johnstone it cannoned back off the inside of the post.

Gibbs was then on hand to dispossess Reid as he tried to create another opening from the rebound.

Antonee Robinson was next to try his luck for Fulham with a shot across goal which was turned behind for a corner from another move which originated from Decordova-Reid on the right.

Allardyce had seen enough and decided to make the game’s first change just past the midway point of the first half.

Grant came on to replace O’Shea with Albion reverting to four at the back and the substitute operating on the left hand side.

Still though, the Fulham chances kept coming, with Loftus-Cheek finding space before firing wide of the target.

Lookman was then sent clear down the left and cut inside under challenge from Semi Ajayi.

Fulham wanted a penalty with Ajayi appearing to try and pull Lookman back but nothing was given and he got a shot in as he fell which Johnstone parried to safety.

Decordova-Reid then sliced another effort over with Albion unable to even get out of their own half.

It took until the 41st minute for Albion to register a shot, by which time Fulham had produced eight.

A clever ball across the edge of the box from Gibbs was seized on by Grant who worked an opening onto his left foot before delivering a shot which Alphonse Areola took comfortably.

It perhaps summed up the half that Gallagher, behind Grant, would have been better placed to hit a first time effort had the ball run through to him.

The only consolation from such a one-sided opening period was that it was only a one-goal deficit, and Albion’s efforts to improve matters after the break saw Allardyce throw new boy Diagne into the fray for the unfortunate Callum Robinson.

And within two minutes of the restart, Albion drew level.

A little spell of possession led to Pereira’s cross taking a deflection and falling perfectly for Bartley to produce a neat finish beyond Areola.

It was a much-needed breakthrough and brought an end to run of 22 successive goals from the opposition at The Hawthorns.

It was the perfect response to such a poor first half and seemed to lift the Baggies and demoralise a Fulham side which had squandered so many chances in that opening period.

Diagne certainly offered a more physical presence up front and his first involvement saw him lay the ball off to Pereira whose powerful shot from distance was not that far away.

Albion now had so much more intensity about them and looked far more threatening going forward, Gallagher breaking into the box and losing his footing with any optimistic penalty appeals waved away by referee Anthony Taylor.

And in the 65th minute the Baggies got their rewards by going in front.

It was Diagne who provided the assist with an excellent driven cross from the right from which Pereira got in front of Ola Aina to expertly clip the ball home, possibly via a slight deflection, with the outside of his left foot.

Diagne was then heavily involved minutes afterwards with another fine ball to set Gallagher away and the midfielder again went down in the box only for more penalty appeals to go unheard.

Fulham were now the team looking devoid of ideas and made a double change with Ivan Cavaleiro and Harrison Reed on for Decordova-Reid and Mario Lemina.

Albion were then agonisingly close to a third as Bartley did well to latch onto a ricochet after a long throw and drill a shot across goal that just went past the near upright.

It was going to be a crucial 20 minutes of Albion’s season and they would still need to defend, Johnstone well placed to take a shot from Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa after a Fulham free kick.

And on 76 minutes Fulham drew level thanks to a combination between their substitutes, Reed whipping in a cross which Cavaleiro stooped to head home from close range.

Now it was anyone’s game, with both sides pushing for the three points.

Johnstone got down well to claim a Mitrovic header from Zambo Anguissa’s corner whilst at the other end Pereira was so close to putting Grant through only for a Fulham defender to block.

Albion sent a couple of balls into the box in the closing stages in search of what could have been a priceless winner, but ultimately the spoils were shared.

It could have been so much better for Albion having led in the second half, but it also could have been so much worse, and they now head to Bramall Lane and Sheffield United on Tuesday night in search of a win that would meet Allardyce’s target of taking four points from two.

Teams

Albion (3-5-2): Johnstone, Ajayi, Bartley, O'Shea (Grant 23); Furlong, Gallagher, Livermore (Phillips 83), Snodgrass, Gibbs; Pereira; Robinson (Diagne 45)

Subs not used: Button, Townsend, Peltier, Ivanovic, Sawyers, Robson-Kanu.

Fulham (4-3-3): Areola, Aina (Tete 81), Andersen, Adarabioyo, Robinson; Decordova-Reid (Cavaleiro 72), Anguissa, Lemina (Reed 72); Loftus-Cheek. Mitrovic, Lookman.

Subs not used: Rodak, Hector, Kebano, Ream, Onomah, Kamara.