Five-star Fulham leave limp Leicester looking down as fightback falls short

Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha must have enjoyed better Bank Holiday Mondays. But the Leicester owner, who saw his side ripped apart by a rampant Fulham side that were unlucky to only find themselves 3-0 up at half-time thanks to goals from Willian, Carlos Vinícius and Tom Cairney, may fear that the worst is yet to come.

While interim manager Dean Smith will point to the way his players briefly fought back after Cairney made it four through consolation goals from Harvey Barnes and a James Maddison penalty, a missed spot kick from Jamie Vardy and another goal for the evergreen Willian only rubbed salt into the Leicester wounds. With a stern-faced Srivaddhanaprabha watching on from the stands as Fulham maintained their quest to reach a record points total in the Premier League under Marco Silva, Leicester’s concerns are mounting at the other end of the table.

With their final three matches against Champions League-chasing Liverpool at home, then Newcastle away before entertaining West Ham on the final day, Smith will know opportunities are quickly running out as his side hover precariously above the relegation zone. His appointment last month to replace Brendan Rodgers was a massive gamble by Srivaddhanaprabha considering his dismal spell in charge of Norwich and the 52-year-old seemed to have galvanised the squad having picked up five points from their previous three games, despite conceding the first goal each time.

But while Daniel Iversen was the hero of the epic 2-2 draw against Everton last week, this time the Leicester goalkeeper gave his side a mountain to climb inside the opening 10 minutes. Willian’s free-kick was designed to force Iversen into a decision about whether to come and gather the ball but his hesitancy proved costly as it squirmed beyond his grasp and into the net, much to the delight of the home crowd.

Leicester almost found an immediate route back into the game when Barnes was inches away from converting a cross from Maddison before Harrison Reed shot wide following a quick Fulham break. But Smith’s worst fears were realised when João Palhinha turned the ball over and fed Harry Wilson, with Vinícius making the most of some hapless defending from Wout Faes and Caglar Soyuncu to guide his shot past Iversen.

Once again the visitors almost hit back straight away and it took a fabulous save from Bernd Leno to stop a powerful drive from the rejuvenated Vardy, who saw another effort easily saved by the Fulham goalkeeper minutes later.

Fulham’s target of 53 points achieved under Roy Hodgson in 2009 was enough to secure seventh spot and resulted in the famous run to the Europa League final. Yet while that may be beyond them this time, Silva will have been delighted by his side’s game management after going ahead here as Leicester were made to chase shadows. Reed should have made it 3-0 on the half-hour mark following a dazzling run by Willian but this time Iversen was able to make the save, before Vinícius went close with a header from Kenny Tete’s cross.

Willian opens the scoring for Fulham, firing past Leicester goalkeeper Daniel Iversen. Photograph: David Klein/Reuters

The inevitable arrived just before half-time courtesy of Cairney to cap a flowing move involving Reed and Vinícius, with assistant coach John Terry subjected to a barrage of “Terry, what’s the score” as he left the pitch deep in conversation with Smith, perhaps wondering where it had all gone wrong. Having seen Barnes force Leno into an early save in the second half, any hopes of a remarkable comeback were to prove shortlived when Cairney steered home his second goal of the afternoon thanks to a swift break from the marauding Tete.

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To their credit, Leicester fought back and found some renewed belief after Barnes slammed home Maddison’s pass from a tight angle. But Leno’s full-length save to deny Vardy from the spot after the goalkeeper brought him down was yet more evidence that this wasn’t going to be their day.

That was underlined when Willian – who turns 35 in August but now has five Premier League goals this season – beat Iversen from distance for the second time, with Maddison’s late penalty and Barnes’s second after good work from substitute Patson Daka greeted with desperate cheers from the travelling Leicester fans, pretty much all of whom had stayed until the bitter end. The next few weeks are not going to be for the faint-hearted.