Fulham 3 Brighton and Hove Albion 1
The Seagulls suffered a rare defeat but not an unusual loss at Craven Cottage.
Fulham went in front after just four minutes after an uncharacteristic mistake by Bart Verbruggen.
The ball was gifted to Alex Iwobi and the Nigeria international drilled it into an empty net for 1-0.
Albion still dominated the play and should have equalised but Simon Adingra saw his close-range shot well saved by Bernd Leno.
Albion did level the score 10 minutes into the second half after good approach play.
A fantastic flick from Joao Pedro into the path of Carlos Baleba enabled the Cameroon midfielder to guide the ball past Leno for 1-1.
Albion dominated play for a while but could not orchestrate a clear-cut chance.
Fulham went in front on 79 minutes. Andreas Pereira swung in a corner and, in the melee of bodies and what appeared to be a push on Lewis Dunk, the ball hit Matt O’Reilly on the back and bounced into the net for 2-1.
Albion were not able to muster much of a response and on the counter in the last minute Iwobi turned the Albion defence and stroked the ball into the bottom corner.
The Seagulls stay fifth and are away to Ruud van Nistlerooy’s Leicester City on Sunday (8 December).
