There were fans arriving here joking that trips to Latvia on a Thursday night are overrated anyway – their attempt at coping with Crystal Palace’s FA Cup triumph meaning finishing eighth in the Premier League will do well to equal European football for next season.
It is unlikely, sure, but not impossible. If Chelsea finish seventh and win the Conference League, for example, that would do it, and Fulham made sure they remained within this race by winning what turned into a bonkers ding-dong with their fellow chasers Brentford.
They traded leads. Fulham led, then Brentford led, then Fulham led again as their two substitutes in Tom Cairney and Harry Wilson turned this around. With that, Marco Silva’s team held on to their advantage to give their manager a reason to smile at full-time.
There were times in this contest when Silva’s face seemed to turn a similar purple to his side’s away shirts. He lost it in the technical area whenever he felt wronged by refereeing calls, not least when Yoane Wissa avoided a second yellow and then scored.
He certainly acted as if Europe is still a possibility, and it is, for now at least.
Brentford came close after 10 minutes when Mikkel Damsgaard threaded a perfect pass in behind into Yoane Wissa, but Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno denied his dink by making himself big. Damsgaard raced on to the rebound but Joachim Andersen blocked his blast.
Fulham came from behind in strong fashion to beat Brentford 3-2 away from home on Sunday
Marco Silva’s side moved up to 10th, above Bournemouth and into the top-half of the table
Meanwhile, Brentford’s six-game unbeaten streak was halted and they remain eighth place
The 16th-minute opener went to Fulham when Adama Traore showed his speed down the right wing before crossing for Raul Jimenez to leap over Nathan Collins and head beyond Mark Flekken. It took a good few seconds before the away section at the other end realised it was 1-0, but Jimenez’s celebrations was a cue for them to join in.
After setting up Fulham’s goal, Traore then helped Brentford by losing the ball to Bryan Mbeumo. He exchanged a one-two with Wissa and made it 1-1.
Jarred Gillet was this game’s referee, less than 24 hours after he acted as VAR in the FA Cup final when he ignored Dean Henderson’s handball which stopped Erling Haaland from scoring. Gillett’s reasoning was the ball was going away from goal. Well, yes, Henderson made sure of that.
Gillett lost a friend in Silva when he then awarded Brentford a penalty for Andersen clipping the heels of Kevin Schade. Silva totally lost it in his technical area with fourth official Farai Hallam receiving the hairdryer treatment, seemingly alongside Brentford’s analysts and the odd security staff member stood by the tunnel.
‘Silva’s right, the refs are sh***,’ sang the away supporters. Mbeumo, apparently an Arsenal target this summer, stepped up but his hop-and-skip penalty was too casual as Leno guessed correctly to deny him his 20th Premier League strike of the season.
Wissa was already on a yellow when he fouled Antonee Robinson from behind. It appeared a clear caution, but Gillett issued his second pardon of the weekend by letting it slide.
That Silva meltdown, and his mood worsened when Wissa then made it 2-1, toeing in Christian Norgaard’s header after a long-throw set-piece to complete a chaotic first half.
The second half was temporarily delayed by a drone flying over the stadium with Cairney coming on as a substitute. Kenny Tete’s deflected cross sat up nicely for Cairney to head in for 2-2 after 68 minutes. It became 3-2 after 70 with another sub in Wilson curling into the corner from 25 yards beyond a rooted Flekken as Fulham secured their must-win.
