Fulham ease into FA Cup fourth round with home win over Watford
Fulham had four different scorers as they beat Watford 4-1 in the third round of the FA Cup at Craven Cottage.
After a well-worked counter-attack saw Rodrigo Muniz net his first goal of 2025, Rocco Vata scored what will be considered a goal-of-the-competition contender with a thumping long-range effort to draw the sides level.
Raul Jimenez continued his fine scoring record from the spot before Joachim Andersen and Timothy Castagne scored their first goals of the season to help Marco Silva’s side topple his former club and advance into the next round.
Alex Iwobi was at the heart of Fulham’s positive opening 20 minutes which saw the hosts produce continuous waves of attacks in an attempt to break down the stubborn Watford defence.
The wide-man often drifted inside to combine with the midfield and after 19 minutes he started and nearly ended a quality Fulham move.
After Sasa Lukic showed fight to track back and retrieve the ball, Iwobi drove forward, picking up the ball off Andreas Pereira from a one-two before his curled effort from the left forced Watford keeper Jonathan Bond to tip his shot past the right-hand post for a corner.
Watford were having joy of their own. Andersen had to bail his side out of danger with a recovery challenge on Tom Ince who was clear through, but the visitors committed too many men forward and they were punished on the break.
After the clearance found Adama Traore on the right, the speedster marauded forward, cutting back a cross to the well-positioned Muniz who found a good connection to bury his effort first time into the bottom right-hand corner.
But not long after, Watford stunned Craven Cottage into silence when Vata produced a fine strike to level. The midfielder, who gained possession on the left, dribbled inside and showed serious turn of pace to bypass multiple white shirts.
He decided to put his foot through the ball from distance, leaving Steven Benda with no chance with the ball rocketing into the top-right corner for 1-1.
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The elusive Traore continued to prove too difficult to contain when he showed smart footwork to earn a penalty a couple of minutes after the interval.
Half-time saw Muniz replaced by Jimenez and the Mexican striker, who netted two penalties in Fulham’s 2-2 draw with Ipswich on Sunday, continued his reliable spot-kick method with a placed strike to the right of the goal to put his side back in the ascendancy.
Andersen pounded on a loose ball off a corner to smash home the hosts’ third before Castagne nodded in a fourth five minutes before the end.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie