Fulham 2-0 Blackburn - Championship leaders pull clear with confident victory

Fulham extended their lead at the top of the Championship to 11 points with victory over fellow promotion hopefuls Blackburn Rovers at Craven Cottage.

It was the Cottagers' ninth win in their last 11 league games, and followed a dominant first-half display in which Neeskens Kebano and Harry Wilson netted without reply.

The hosts started at full pelt and took the game to Rovers, whose passive display in the opening 45 was punished when Kebano fired in after Neco Williams' shot was spilled by Thomas Kaminski, and then when Wilson lifted a long through-ball from former Blackburn loanee Tosin Adarabioyo over the Belgian keeper for a second.

Sam Gallagher was sent on after the break to give the visitors more of a presence up front and he was only denied a goal by the offside flag after burying the rebound from a Bradley Johnson header.

Despite an improved effort from Rovers, Marco Silva's hosts still had chances to further extend their lead with 34-goal Aleksandar Mitrovic bulleting a header into the side netting and Williams hitting the bar spectacularly when trying to catch out Kaminski, who also beat away a Wilson free-kick late on.

Tony Mowbray's team are still fourth, although results could see them slip out of the top six come the end of the day.

Fulham's 7-0 thumping of Blackburn back in November proved a catalyst for the Lancashire side side, triggering a 10-game unbeaten run which propelled them into the promotion mix.

However, they have failed to find that groove of late, with 20-goal top scorer Ben Brereton Diaz unavailable through injury, and have now scored just once in seven games.

Other than Gallagher's finish which was ruled out, Rovers struggled to create genuine chances to trouble Marek Rodak in the Fulham goal.

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