A lively first half full of action was kick-started when Mikkel Damsgaard threaded through to Yoane Wissa, who was denied at the near post by a smart Bernd Leno stop before the Dane saw his follow-up blocked.
With 16 minutes on the clock, Fulham opened the scoring via Raúl Jiménez, who rose above Nathan Collins to power home a header from Adama Traoré’s deflected looping cross. Brentford responded promptly, coming close when Bryan Mbeumo whipped a set-piece delivery across the face of goal, shortly before finding the net himself with a low snapshot into the bottom corner.
Just six minutes later, the hosts had a chance to take the lead after Kevin Schade was brought down by Joachim Andersen in the area. Heavily linked with a move away, Mbeumo assumed responsibility on what could be his last home appearance for the Bees, yet the PL Player of the Season nominee missed his first penalty in Brentford colours, with Leno getting a strong hand to the spot-kick.
Fortunately for the home support, Brentford went in at the break ahead, as a long throw from Michael Kayode caused havoc, culminating in Christian Nørgaard heading the ball goalwards with the help of a goalline touch from Wissa.
Having dropped a joint league-high 28 points from winning positions ahead of the round, it was a familiar feeling for Marco Silva’s men, who found themselves trailing at the restart.
The high-tempo contest showed few signs of letting up, and after a period of pressure, Fulham turned the game on its head for a second time, netting twice in the space of three minutes.
Club captain Tom Cairney brought the scores level when he directed his header from another deflected cross beyond Mark Flekken, and with Brentford still reeling, fellow substitute Harry Wilson compounded their misery with a swerving strike from distance.
An enthralling battle remained captivating to the final whistle, with Nørgaard testing Leno late on, but it was the visitors who came out on top, taking them to within a point of their defeated opponents and keeping the Cottagers’ European pursuit alive with four sides still in the mix.
Despite the result, Thomas Frank’s side remain eighth, with qualification still possible for whoever ends up in that position next Sunday, depending on Chelsea’s success in Europe amongst other factors.
However, failure to extend their winning streak to five PL games – their longest top-flight streak since 1939 – means that they could drop as low as 10th by the time the final round of fixtures come around.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Raúl Jiménez (Fulham)
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