Player Ratings: Brentford 2-3 Fulham

In a delicious twist of fate and form, Fulham finished their away campaign in a blaze of glory, well and truly being the party-poopers of Brentford’s parade. The sounds of fans chanting over the Bees’ post-match lap of honour was an absolute delight as we did the double over our neighbours in red and white. Who took the title of man of the match and made the real difference? The answer is fairly simple.

Bernd Leno

That. Penalty. Save. Bryan Mbeumo rarely misses his spot kicks, converting them with conviction and consistency. But today, Bernd Leno had other ideas. So when he stopped the effort, going down to his right, I think we were all in shock. He also made a couple of corking saves in the match including a superb dive to his left from a close range header that seemed a dead cert of a goal to earn the Bees an equaliser. These moments defined the victory for me, and replied to last weekend’s mistake against Everton in fantastic fashion. What a legend. 8.5/10 – man of the match

Kenny Tete

Had a good battle on his hands today with Kevin Schade in red-hot form, it looked like he was losing that fight for the first 30 minutes, picking up an early yellow card that looked a little risky after another foul came in shortly after, but he reacted really well and shut them down for the second half, not letting anyone pass like Gandalf in Lord of the Rings. 6.5/10

Joachim Andersen

Good aggression and leadership today, I’m starting to see more of Andersen’s qualities shining through in recent weeks. Had a sloppy moment in the first half to give away a needless penalty, while it was harsh with the ball going nowhere, he should know better. A few needlessly misplaced passes too early in the game. But, like many players, stepped up massively in the second half and shut the door on Brentford, holding firm when it counted to shield the goal. 6/10

Calvin Bassey

Similar to Andersen’s slightly shaky first half with some frustrating loose passes not finding their target, we struggled to get our rhythm on the ball as Brentford outplayed us in the initial stages. Overall as always a solid unit, played a key part in fencing off Brentford’s long throws in the air and dangerous crosses, lots of clearances made and always a force to be reckoned with on the ball. 6.5/10

Antonee Robinson

While he didn’t flourish in terms of crosses into the box or chance creation going forward, the task of trying to stop Mbeumo is the hardest of them all, and he was able to match his pace to nullify the attacker as much as possible, even to the point Mbeumo had to change positions across the pitch to try and find more luck elsewhere. Jedi made the most tackles in the match with a solid amount of interceptions and clearances, with great passing accuracy to match. Good to see him looking like his old self a little more and perhaps the rest last weekend helped with the energy levels. 7/10

Sander Berge

A quiet display today and Silva was right to shake things up at half time similar to Southampton away. His 100% passing accuracy alongside winning all his ground duels shows he’s consistent and reliable when needed, the game just required a spark of extra creativity and romance to unlock the victory. 6/10

Sasa Lukic

The engine in the heart of midfield produced another performance full of energy and aggression that I greatly appreciate. The combo of him and Cairney later on worked much better than Berge and Tom as he provided more aggression and pace to allow others to progress play further up the field. Huge fan and he’s stepped up so much this season since the departure of Joao Palhinha to become one of my favorite players. 7/10

Emile Smith Rowe

One of those games again. The last couple of weeks have seen some game-changing moments from Emile, which is a positive, but today he faded a bit again apart from an impressive strike to the bottom corner that was well saved. Not convincing in the press and lost all his duels with only one pass into the final third, Josh King offered more today when he replaced him. 5.5/10

Alex Iwobi

I feel like I’m always being harsh on Alex and I feel bad for it, but again I was just really underwhelmed. He lacks the pace, so I expect his passing, dribbling and creative output to make up for it. But in reality, today at least, that just didn’t happen. The spark needed to make something happen wasn’t ignited and the stats reflect this. 5.5/10

Adama Traore

While there’s a little tendency to maybe not track back or make runs off the ball in some moments, the impact Adama makes for us is undeniable. Today he cropped up with another two assists, and his ability to take players on and deliver successful crosses is excellent. Everytime it’s like a controlled dink and it always lands in the danger area and I’m all for it. Set up the opener with an excellent cross from the right and played the ball in to Harry Wilson for his screamer. Very glad he’s extended his contract and looking forward to seeing more exciting play next season! 8/10

Raul Jimenez

The subject of a fair amount of criticism in general, and yet he’s popped up with his second headed goal in two weeks to make it 12 in total for the season. A good outing today with the usual tenacity mixed with some good hold-up play. Faded out of the match a bit towards the end as usual but I think he’s doing admirably given his age and the fact that he’s playing 90 minutes every week now. Glad he’s extended his contract for the year, while he may not be my future first choice for next season, he’ll make an excellent deputy and still has an important role to play in the club. 7.5/10

Substitutes

Tom Cairney (subbed on for Berge 45’)

With the uncertainty around TC and whether this may have been his final away day with us, it was destiny that he would come on and put in a performance like that. He demanded the ball, played with confidence, found great pockets of space and played some brilliant long balls out wide too. But of course his crowning moment was when he leapt like a salmon into the air to slot it home for the equaliser in the bottom corner. Straight to the fans who were so deeply appreciative of the goal, his display, and 10 years as an exceptional servant to Fulham Football Club. 8.5/10

Harry Wilson (subbed on for Iwobi 66)

How does he do it? Took a little while to get up to full speed since his injury, he looked aggressive against Everton and today reminded us just how exceptional a player he is. And what an unbelievable strike that was for the winner that seals his name in Fulham folklore for eternity, as if it wasn’t already. Great energy levels, better off the bench for me, perfect antidote for Iwobi’s not so effective performance today. The vision for the winner and the strike itself from long-range was perfect. His overall link up and pace going forward and defending was spot on. 8.5/10

Josh King (subbed on for Emile Smith Rowe 66)

Really good to see Josh get a decent run-out. Played some really tidy football in attacking-midfield, linked up the play well in dangerous areas and has an excellent air of confidence about him. Very excited to see this lad develop, I think he has what it takes and hopefully next season we see more. 7/10

Ryan Sessegnon (80) Jorge Cuenca (89)

Final subs didn’t play long enough to give a fair rating.

Marco Silva

Got it absolutely spot on today. While we seemed a little exposed at first and Brentford just played us off the park for large spells of the game, somehow we held on to half time and then the outcome was written in the stars. Tom gave us a sense of control in the middle of the park, he works much better ahead of Sasa over Burge in my opinion, and this might have been his last derby for us so that goal was perfect. Wilson knows how to get those special goals and came on at the perfect time. Silva was also able to build a team that saw the game out, while looking after the ball and minimizing Brentford chances. Great job Marco, thank you for giving us another exceptional away day this season that means the world to us fans. 8/10