All square in tough battle at the Cottage

Watford came in to the game the better on recent form, having won four out of the first five games of the new Premier League season.

And it was the in-form outfit who took the lead within the first two minutes of the game. A long throw was not dealt with by the Fulham defence, meaning that the ball scrappily fell to Will Hughes in the penalty area. The young midfielder managed to slide the ball through to Andre Gray, who cooly finished past Marcus Bettinelli.

After the goal the home side tried to get back in to it, with Andre Schurrle dropping deep to play a few nice balls over the top.

Despite a clear dominance of possession the 'Cottagers' were lothargic with the ball and failed to produce a decent final ball when they did manage to work it in to the wide areas, with Aleksandar Mitrovic dropping deeper as the half went on to try and get on the ball.

Watford's resolute defending meant that they managed to hang on to their lead as the sides went in to the break.

Fulham came back out in the second half determined to change things, as they continued to boss possession but could not find the decisive pass that could send the dangerous Aleksandar Mitrovic through on goal.

The game became more frenetic and more broken up as it progressed, with the midfield becoming a battle ground to retrieve second balls and stop either set of strikers getting service.

Vietto had had a difficult game on the wing, but it was his desite to chase down a seemingly lost ball that gave Fulham a route back in to the game.

The Spanish winger out-paced defender Daryl Janmaat to retrieve a ball that seemed destined to go out of play, and managed to get to the edge of the box where he picked out Mitrovic in the middle, who in turn poked the ball in to the net.

The home team were buoyed by the goal and tried to now push for a winner, with Mitrovic going closest when he headed against the bar following a corner.

In the end, neither team could find a way through and procedings and the game ended as a draw.

Salvisa Jokanovic will probably think his team should have got a win in the game given the amount of chances they had, but they were ultimately far too wasteful.

Meanwhile, Javi Gracia will be happy with how his team battled through to get the result, but will know they need to improve when they do have the ball.

 

September 22, 2018