Fulham thrash Forest 5-0 to pile pressure on Cooper

LONDON : Fulham mowed down Nottingham Forest in a 5-0 win on a freezing Wednesday night in west London, dropping the visitors closer to the Premier League relegation zone and piling pressure on their manager Steve Cooper.

Forest have now lost four games in a row and won only once in their last 11, and their defeat at Craven Cottage saw them drop to 16th in the table, while the home side climbed provisionally to 12th.

Fulham took the lead on the half-hour with Willian whipping in a cross from the left and Alex Iwobi leaping forward to tap the ball in past Forest keeper Odysseas Vlachodimos.

Raul Jimenez doubled the lead four minutes later, latching onto a quick-fire pass from Andreas Pereira on the edge of the box and flicking his shot up and over Vlachodimos into the top right corner.

Fulham continued to swarm forward at the start of the second half and the pressure paid off in the 54th minute when Jimenez muscled his way past Forest defender Ola Aina and skipped sideways past Vlachodimos before back-heeling the ball into the net.

Iwobi got his second in the 73rd minute, lashing in a cross from substitute Harry Wilson, before captain Tom Cairney made it 5-0 in the 86th, running forward and coolly slotting the ball past the hapless Vlachodimos.