Burnley scored two superb goals to give Vincent Kompany’s side a deserved victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage in the Premier League.
Two long-range strikes from Wilson Odobert and Sander Berge gave Burnley their first win since December 2.
The 2-0 score-line meant a second straight league defeat for Marco Silva’s Fulham following last week’s 3-0 setback at Newcastle.
Burnley were camped in Fulham’s half in the early stages and created a chance in the sixth minute.
Brazil international Vitinho tucked inside and played a whipped cross to the head of Lyle Foster whose effort sailed over the crossbar.
Fulham went close themselves in the 13th minute after a moment of brilliance from Harry Wilson.
The tricky Welshman picked up the ball on the edge of Burnley’s box, sliced through the defence before his outside of the boot shot was saved by James Trafford.
Two more quickfire chances through Timothy Castagne and Alex Iwobi showed the Cottagers’ intent but Fulham missed the quality of the suspended Raul Jimenez.
Referee Rebecca Welch became the first woman to take charge of a Premier League match and she brandished a yellow card to Calvin Bassey after the defender struck Josh Brownhill with his hand.
And the chance of the match came in first half added time. Andreas Pereira put a wide free-kick into the danger zone and after a scramble in the box, Iwobi’s strike was cleared off the line to keep it level.
Burnley came out the blocks fast in the second half and took a 1-0 lead after 47 minutes.
A neat piece of play deep into Fulham’s half saw the ball at the feet of Odobert who produced a wonderful, curved strike into the right-hand corner of Bernd Leno’s goal.
And after 66 minutes the Clarets stunned Fulham and took a 2-0 lead.
The towering Berge retrieved the ball on half-way and drove into space. He entered the edge of Fulham’s box where he rifled his strike past Leno to double his team’s lead.
Actor Hugh Grant, a Fulham fan, was in attendance to witness the two festive blockbusters which gave the Clarets all three points.
And his team failed to produce a positive reaction late on and looked off the pace during six added minutes.
