Soccer Football - Premier League - Fulham v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - November 23, 2024 Wolverhampton Wanderers' Matheus Cunha scores their third goal Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge
LONDON (Reuters) -Matheus Cunha scored two superb goals and set up a third to earn Wolves a 4-1 comeback victory at Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday, extending the visitors' unbeaten run to four games and briefly dragging them out of the relegation zone.
Fulham should have gone ahead in the 17th minute through Raul Jimenez but the former Wolves striker somehow turned Antonee Robinson's dangerous cross against the woodwork.
The hosts took a deserved lead after 20 minutes though with Alex Iwobi capitalising on Wolves giving away possession to curl home an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box.
But Wolves scored with their first real attack in the 31st minute from a simple ball over the top by Mario Lemina, playing out of his usual position at centre back.
His pass found Cunha who controlled the ball beautifully with his first touch, then set it up with his second before coolly dinking it beyond Bernd Leno.
Fulham boss Marco Silva said his side had started well but were thrown by Wolves' opener. "The way we conceded the first goal made a big impact in the game because we were controlling the game," he told reporters.
Cunha was also involved in Wolves' second, which was easy for the visitors as Jean-Ricner Bellegarde was given time to find Cunha, who played in Joao Gomes to fire past Leno in the 53rd minute.
Wolves' second goal completely shifted the momentum and the visitors suddenly dominated the midfield just as Fulham had done in the first half-hour.
Fulham substitute Harry Wilson, with three goals in his previous two cameos off the bench, nearly turned supersub again but his 70th-minute shot skimmed the top of the bar.
The hosts played the last 10 minutes with 10 men after Andersen limped off injured, shortly after Fulham boss Marco Silva had made the last of his five substitutions.
Cunha scored again in the 87th minute, curling home from just outside the box for his seventh league goal of the season and has scored four and assisted three in his last four games.
Substitute Goncalo Guedes completed the rout in stoppage time to send the remaining Fulham fans to the exits.
Wolves boss Gary O'Neil let out a huge roar in front of the away fans after full-time, as a dreadful start has now been followed by two draws and back-to-back victories.
"I was really pleased for the fans and the players who have both suffered some tough weeks recently," he told reporters.
O'Neil added: "There's been some tough moments, there's been a lot of hard work, we've never shown any cracks, we've always kept working."
Wolves' second league win of the season -- and their first away victory since February -- put them on nine points from 12 games and into 17th place, a point above 19th-placed Ipswich Town who host Manchester United on Sunday.
Fulham's defeat ends their three-game unbeaten run and sees them drop to ninth with 18 points.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin, editing by Ed Osmond and Clare Fallon)
