{"id":587599,"date":"2025-11-22T22:40:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T22:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/587599\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T22:40:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T22:40:19","slug":"jimenez-calms-choppy-waters-at-fulham-with-late-winner-against-sunderland-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/587599\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim\u00e9nez calms choppy waters at Fulham with late winner against Sunderland | Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Uncertain times at Fulham<\/a>. The word is out that the club\u2019s ownership would like to extend Marco Silva\u2019s stay. The manager himself has been noncommittal, while also making explicit his dim view of a lack of summer transfer business. Ra\u00fal Jim\u00e9nez\u2019s winner, coming when it seemed Fulham were incapable of scoring, might still choppy waters for now.<\/p>\n

It lifted Fulham away from the increasing threat of a relegation battle but the manager stayed noncommittal. \u201cI don\u2019t need this type of performance to make important decisions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Last season\u2019s record points tally and enterprising football has been replaced by staleness and sterility, and Silva could argue little of that is of his making. The Khan family ownership gambled on stasis, rarely a recipe for success when others spend big.<\/p>\n

Jim\u00e9nez\u2019s goal was a measure of the veteran striker\u2019s determination to keep trying when other heads would have dropped but relying on him remains an indictment of the lack of funding Silva and supporters complain of. They will also miss Silva\u2019s game management and risk-taking values should he choose to depart.<\/p>\n

Beating Sunderland<\/a> should register as a coup, the Wearsiders have enjoyed the novelty of the big league though here came the ill wind of reality. With his team kicking off in fourth place, R\u00e9gis Le Bris is this season\u2019s best newcomer, but Sunderland fell prey to Fulham bringing on quality in Emile Smith Rowe and Samuel Chukwueze. The latter, loaned from Milan, supplied the winner and was a decent piece of business in the thin gruel of Fulham\u2019s summer. \u201cGreat impact from him,\u201d said Silva. \u201cThese types of games it is very important to be patient, we can\u2019t lose our principles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ra\u00fal Jim\u00e9nez finishes off an attack to score the decisive goal for Fulham Photograph: Bradley Collyer\/PA<\/p>\n

In rotten weather conditions, swirling rain whipping off the Thames, this was a contest to be toughed out. The final whistle was followed by an angry confrontation between players and coaches after 90 minutes of gristle. \u201cI don\u2019t like fighting at the end,\u201d said Le Bris. \u201cIf there\u2019s still energy in your tank it means before you didn\u2019t push hard enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Iwobi\u2019s early overhead kick was a moment of improvisation made necessary by the tight squeeze Sunderland made of their penalty area until the crucial, closing minutes. Le Bris said his target remains \u201caround 40 points\u201d to achieve safety, not anything loftier. \u201cWe expect tough games, strong opposition, and we need to improve our level,\u201d he said. \u201cWe started the season well, which is positive, but we want to be competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

His team\u2019s chosen attacking weapon was quick, wildcat counterattacks, while Fulham\u2019s best chance of the first half also came from a counter, Harry Wilson escaping before missing the target. Robin Roefs, Sunderland\u2019s goalkeeper, made a couple of decent saves from Kevin, though the Brazilian\u2019s finishing was unconvincing throughout.<\/p>\n

That Fulham could do with a finisher is a familiar lament, particularly with Rodrigo Muniz out until 2026. Silva has done a fine refurb on Jim\u00e9nez, but a previous tally of a single Premier League<\/a> goal told the tale well enough. The Mexican\u2019s willingness, though, remains exemplary. \u201cHe always plays with his heart, you know his heart is going to be there,\u201d said Silva of a player who had returned from Texas for Friday morning. \u201cA proper striker\u2019s goal in that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n

Sign up to Football Daily<\/p>\n

Kick off your evenings with the Guardian’s take on the world of football<\/p>\n

Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n

Ra\u00fal Jim\u00e9nez races away in delight after his late goal for Fulham. Photograph: Glyn Kirk\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The first half ended with players jogging gratefully to the dressing room for shelter from the elements. Enzo La F\u00e9e, in tights and gloves, had previously been peripheral, but as soon as the second period began, after a raking ball from Roefs, the Frenchman\u2019s shot had Bernd Leno beaten, though also the post. Sunderland, looking ever more capable of nicking something, replaced counterattacking with a dominance of possession.<\/p>\n

Sunderland\u2019s lone striker, Wilson Isidor, departed, tired by chasing the channels, replaced by Brian \u201cMr\u201d Brobbey, unable to repeat his Arsenal heroics <\/a>off the bench. Smith Rowe and Chukwueze arrived to inject zest into Fulham.<\/p>\n

The home support\u2019s hope was sagging as their players flubbed chances, but Sunderland had, not inconsequentially, become far less assured. Fatefully, Chukwueze\u2019s cross skidded into Jim\u00e9nez\u2019s path, the striker shaking off the bulk of Dan Ballard to show typical bravery in scoring a goal that never looked likely to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Uncertain times at Fulham. The word is out that the club\u2019s ownership would like to extend Marco Silva\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[94,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-587599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115595760478301652","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}