Alex Iwobi scored the only goal as Fulham beat Hull City 1-0 at Craven Cottage on Saturday, 17 October. The 33rd-minute strike handed Fulham their first Premier League win of the season and gave Alvaro Arbeloa, who replaced Marco Silva in July, his first league victory in charge.
It came at the right time.
Sander Berge picked out Iwobi on the edge of the area. His low first-time shot took a deflection off Lucas Herrington and beat Hull goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis. Fulham had gone six league matches without a win. The three points lifted them off the foot of the table and out of the bottom three, with five points from seven games.
A Nigerian afternoon in west London
The game had a strong Super Eagles flavour, because Calvin Bassey started at the back for Fulham while Semi Ajayi lined up in the heart of the Hull defence, which meant three players who have shared an Eagles dressing room spent the afternoon on opposite sides.
Iwobi was the best of them. Opta figures carried by beIN Sports show he had five shots, created three chances and completed 57 passes. No Fulham player had reached those numbers in a Premier League match since Bryan Ruiz in December 2012. He was named man of the match. The goal was his first in the league this season. It was also his 36th in the Premier League, across spells at Arsenal, Everton and Fulham, and ThisDay and beIN Sports both report that it draws him level with Peter Odemwingie as the joint sixth-highest scoring Nigerian in the competition's history.
Hull rarely threatened. The only sour note for the hosts came deep in stoppage time, when substitute Ryan Sessegnon was sent off for a late challenge on Robinio Vaz.
“We deserved it in other matches, but we couldn't get it; today was finally the day,” Arbeloa said after the match.
The Spaniard had been under pressure. “Our rivals punish our mistakes or take their chances, but today we were brilliant for 90 minutes,” he said. Next up are Coventry City and then Crystal Palace.
What it means for the Super Eagles
Eric Chelle will have noticed.
Nigeria host Tanzania at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo on Wednesday, 11 November, in matchday three of AFCON 2027 qualifying. The return meeting in Tanzania follows four days later.
The double header in Uyo and Tanzania arrives after a bruising September, in which Nigeria came from behind to beat Madagascar 2-1 in Uyo and then lost 3-0 in Guinea-Bissau, the first competitive defeat of the Chelle era, so the Eagles will need results rather than performances when the squad gathers next month.
A confident Iwobi matters in that context. He is the creative link in midfield, and his career record suggests his club form travels well.
Bassey kept a clean sheet. Ajayi, a familiar face in the Eagles' back line, is still playing regular top-flight football with Hull.
One win does not fix Fulham's season. For Nigeria, though, a key midfielder ending his league drought three weeks before a qualifier the Eagles cannot afford to drop is welcome news.
This article was most recently revised and updated 6 seconds ago
