Fulham 0-2 Burnley: Couple of Christmas crackers help Clarets move off the bottom with superb away win

Second-half strikes from Wilson Odobert and Sander Berge, both coming from outside the box, earned Vincent Kompany’s men their third win of the campaign.

It sees the Clarets move off the bottom up to 19th, but crucially cuts the gap to safety to just three points.

Burnley offered little in the way of an attacking threat in the first-half, but managed to game well and limited the hosts to half chances.

The visitors came firing out of the blocks at the start of the second-half though, breaking the deadlock courtesy of Odobert’s curler before giving themselves a cushion with Berge’s low piledriver.

While Fulham inevitably piled on the pressure late on, Burnley held firm to keep only their second clean sheet of the campaign and their first away from home.

Kompany opted to make two changes to his side from the 2-0 defeat to Everton in Burnley’s last outing.

During that game, Lyle Foster made a surprise early return having come off the bench at half-time to replace Jay Rodriguez.

The 23-year-old had previously been taking an indefinite break from football to receive specialist care for his mental health.

Foster for Rodriguez was one of two changes Kompany made to his side, with Charlie Taylor also coming in for Hannes Delcroix, who dropped down to the bench.

Taylor returned after serving a one-match man against Everton after accumulating five yellow cards.

Elsewhere, Jack Cork, Aaron Ramsey, Johann Gudmundsson and Luca Koleosho all remain sidelined.

As for Fulham, they were without in-form striker Raul Jimenez after their striker, who has scored three goals in his last two games, was shown a straight red against Newcastle United last week.

Burnley made a bright enough start, with Foster winning an early corner before Zeki Amdouni dribbled his way into the Fulham box, only to be crowded out before he could get a shot off at goal.

The visitors were the better side during the opening stages, but they needed James Trafford to make an important save to keep them level when Harry Wilson dribbled his way into the box, before seeing his shot turned behind for a corner.

This sparked a spell of pressure from Fulham, who probed once again through Joao Palhina only for Trafford to stand tall, before Alex Iwobi found the side netting after beating Jordan Beyer inside the box.

Midway through the half, Andreas Pereira had Trafford scuttling across goal after his free-kick took a deflection off the wall, diverting it just wide of the Burnley goal.

The hosts continued to look the more likely to break the deadlock, with Antonee Robinson skewing just wide of the near post after the ball had rebounded to him inside the box.

Rodrigo Muniz was the next to try his luck after springing Burnley’s offside trap, only to fire wide into the side netting.

Both sides exchanged chances to take the lead on the stroke of half-time. Firstly, Trafford was forced into making another save, this time getting a strong hand to Iwobi’s deflected effort.

At the other end, Wilson Odobert fed Foster on the break but the striker’s goalbound shot was deflected behind for a corner.

There was still time left for Fulham to go close again with Amdouni making a crucial block to deny Iwobi from close range before Jordan Beyer headed the rebound off the line.

It appeared it was only a matter of time until Fulham would eventually make one of their chances count, but the half-time interval came at a good time for Burnley.

Firstly, it allowed them to change things up with Mike Tresor replacing Jacob Bruun Larsen, who had seen little of the ball during the opening 45 minutes.

The Clarets started the half brightly, coming within a whisker of opening the scoring as Amdouni volleyed just wide after making a beautiful connection on the edge of the Fulham box.

The Clarets didn’t rue the miss for too long though, as their following attack brought the game’s opening goal.

It was some effort too, Odobert exchanging a quick one-two with Foster before curling a sumptuous effort beyond Bernd Leno’s despairing dive.

Burnley were given a dilemma after the goal - sit on their lead and look to desperately hold on for the win? Or keep playing their game and look for a second.

As the second-half wore on, Fulham fans became increasingly desperate, howling for an apparent handball in the box from Foster when he clearly chested the ball down before clearing.

It proved to be Foster’s final action of the game as he was withdrawn by Jay Rodriguez, with the Clarets continuing to manage his minutes on his return to action.

To avoid a nervy final 25 minutes, a la Brighton a couple of weeks ago, Burnley needed that cushion of a second goal.

That’s exactly what happened when Fulham’s defenders backed off to allow Sander Berge to run and run towards their box. The powerful midfielder duly obliged before picking out the bottom corner of Leno’s net with aplomb from 20 yards out - sending the away fans into raptures.

Fulham inevitably responded, but Burnley stayed resolute and gave little away - although Dara O’Shea did make an important block to deny Robinson with 10 minutes remaining.

Burnley, now attacking with flare and confidence, could have even added a third when Berge curled over after being teed up by Tresor.

The home side could have made things interesting five minutes from time when Timothy Castagne managed to get in behind Burnley’s backline, but once again Trafford was there to keep Fulham at bay.

Despite six minutes being added on at the end of the 90, Burnley saw out the remainder of time with relative ease – leaving the players to celebrate with the jubilant away end two days before Christmas.

TEAMS

Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Tosin, Bassey, Robinson (Ballo-Toure), Palhinha (Reed), Cairney, Wilson, Pereira (Reid), Iwobi, Muniz (Vinicius)

Subs not used: Rodak, Tete, Diop, Lukic, Harris

Burnley: Trafford, Vitinho, O'Shea, Beyer, Taylor, Brownhill, Berge, Bruun Larsen (Tresor, Delcroix), Odobert (Roberts), Amdouni (Redmond), Foster (Rodriguez)

Subs not used: Muric, Cullen, Zaroury, Obafemi

Referee: Rebecca Welch

Attendance: 23,598