Fulham 2-0 West Brom: Hosts secure first Premier League win to escape relegation zone

Fulham will be relieved to move out of the Premier League relegation zone after securing their first win of the 2020-21 season. They defeated West Bromwich Albion 2-0 at home on Monday, in a clash between two clubs that have just been promoted from the Championship.

Bobby Decordova-Reid opened his account in the 26th minute, putting Fulham in the lead. Just four minutes later, Aleksandar Mitrovic set the ball up for Ola Aina, who struck a clinical goal from 20 yards out.

Fulham was threatening all evening, even coming close to scoring a third. However, West Brom keeper Samuel Luke Johnstone did well to keep the attempts out.

West Brom's best effort came in the form of a crossbar hit from Conor Townsend. They did little to challenge Alphonse Areola at the Fulham goal beyond that. As a result, the loss brings Slaven Bilic's side into the relegation zone after failing to register a single victory so far this season.

Both teams have been struggling to secure their place in the Premier League after having just been promoted. Fulham picked up only one point from the first six games, while West Brom managed three draws and three losses.

West Brom boss Bilic would be frustrated to have lost the opportunity to gather three points from last night's match. The club will need to gain confidence against the weaker teams before they can even begin to think about challenging the top Premiership teams.

This is West Brom's first season back in the Premier League since 2017-18, and they will be needing to pick up their pace if they wish to stay in the top flight.

According to BBC, Fulham manager Scott Parker said, "Of course there is relief because we had not won a game. We have won but along the journey there are going to be many bumps."

"We definitely got what we deserved. We are definitely maturing and definitely improving. We got a result and it is brilliant but we have to keep moving forward."

West Brom boss Slaven Bilic pointed out that his boys have learned a lesson and know that they need to improve. "They were better than us in everything, one v one, two v two, passing the ball, aggression and commitment, everything really and I'm extremely disappointed - we can't play like this," he said.