Brighton suffered only their third Premier League defeat of the season as two goals from Alex Iwobi, along with an own goal from the unfortunate Matt O’Riley, helped Fulham to victory at a wet and windy Craven Cottage.
The game was played in horrendous conditions of heavy rain and strong winds, but there were no excuses for Bart Verbruggen’s early mistake to gift the hosts the lead.
After only three minutes, Brighton’s Dutch keeper, looking to play a short pass to team-mate Carlos Baleba inside the penalty area, saw Alex Iwobi intercept and slide the ball into an unguarded net for his fourth league goal of the season.
Fulham had a chance to quickly double their lead when Iwobi looked to be through on goal, only for Igor Julio to come across and cover well.
Brighton grabbed a deserved equaliser 11 minutes into the second half.
Jan Paul van Hecke played a lofted pass and Joao Pedro, nominated for November’s Premier League Player of the Month award, produced a clever touch to set up Baleba to fire low past Bernd Leno from 20 yards out.
It was a lovely goal, followed by a special celebration as Baleba showed his gymnastics skills with an acrobatic somersault, although this was not the springboard for Brighton to get what would have been their seventh win of the season.
Fulham retook the lead in fortunate circumstances as Andreas Pereira’s 79th-minute corner from the left struck O’Riley and bounced into his own net.
Iwobi then sealed victory with a powerful 87th-minute strike for his second goal of the match to ensure Fulham claimed the three points and moved up to sixth spot – a point behind their fifth-placed visitors.
