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Wolves 1 Fulham 0: Nuno's men close in on seventh

Premier League report: Wolves were heading for a frustrating goalless draw until Leander Dendoncker scored the game's only goal 15 minutes from time.

By Opta
Leander Dendoncker celebrates with teammates after scoring the lone goal in Wolves win

London, May 4: Leander Dendoncker's goal 15 minutes from time gave Wolves a 1-0 win over Fulham at Molineux, taking the hosts to the brink of securing a seventh-place finish in the Premier League.

Results | Points Table | Fixtures

Nuno Espirito Santo's men knew victory in their final home game of the season would leave Leicester City as the only side able to catch them in the battle for seventh, and they got the job done with a late strike.

Relegated Fulham were on course for a fourth clean sheet on the spin, but Dendoncker guided Matt Doherty's cross past Sergio Rico with a first-time finish to earn Wolves a third successive win.

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Wolves are now six points better off than Leicester, who have two games in hand, the first of those away to Manchester City on Monday.

Seventh position in the Premier League will secure European football if Pep Guardiola's side beat Watford in the FA Cup final.

Rico produced a fine save with 11 minutes on the clock to tip Diogo Jota's fierce shot around the post following some impressive link-up play between Wolves' front two.

Wolves were asking all of the attacking questions as Jota came close through a couple more attempts and Dendoncker headed Joao Moutinho's left-sided delivery against the crossbar.

But the hosts were unable to find a first-half breakthrough against their lowly opponents and Fulham nearly opened the scoring via Joe Bryan's strike five minutes before the interval, which Rui Patricio was equal to.

Jota fizzed a shot wide of the far post and Aleksandar Mitrovic, kept quiet for most of the game, fired over the bar at the other end having been picked out in the box by Ryan Sessegnon.

Fulham required Rico to produce two saves in the space of a minute to keep out Ruben Neves' swerving shot and Doherty's downward header at his near post.

Wolves' pressure finally told as Dendoncker converted past Rico, who made a wonderful stop three minutes later to push aside Jota's half-volley.

Fulham, who brought on 16-year-old Harvey Elliott to make him the youngest player to play in the Premier League, failed to truly trouble their opponents in the time that remained as their winning run came to an end.

Story first published: Saturday, May 4, 2019, 21:36 [IST]
Other articles published on May 4, 2019