Baleba scores in away defeat to Fulham

Cameroonian international midfielder Carlos Baleba raised his premier League’s goal tally to 2, and his season’s tally to 3, in an unfortunate mid-week defeat against Fulham.

Albion suffered more misery by the Thames as their winless record against Fulham in the Premier League went on.

Alex Iwobi’s early-and-late double and an own goal by former Cottagers hopeful Matt O’Riley sent them to a defeat which ultimately rendered Carlos Baleba’s superb second-half equaliser pointless.

They will now regroup and prepare to visit a Leicester side who have been resting and recuperating since Tuesday.

Selection will be interesting for the East Midlands trip.

Fabian Hurzeler posed plenty of question for fans, media and, no doubt, Fulham last night as well at teamsheet time.

Lewis Dunk’s 250th Prem start was not a surprise but what was reported to be a minor issue kept Danny Welbeck out and the formation was tricky to work out.

As it turned out, Hurzeler did what he said he did not really want to do – go with a back three.

That would have been partly down to Joel Veltman’s continuing absence.

Simon Adingra was the right wing-back and, opposite him, Pervis Estupinan played a role to which he is well-versed for Ecuador.

Fulham, buoyed by their 1-1 draw at Tottenham on Sunday, brought in Rodrigo Muniz, Timothy Castagne and Harry Wilson.

They were further boosted after just four minutes by a gift of a goal.

Bart Verbruggen’s pass into the returning Baleba needed to be very precise but was not so and Iwobi intercepted before firing home past the covering Dunk.

Iwobi might have quickly had a second but for a timely block by Igor after a stray header by Dunk.

It must have made for galling viewing for Hurzeler, seated high in the new Riverside Stand as he served his touchline ban.

But van Hecke’s role out to the right gave him a great angle to slide a through ball for Joao Pedro, leading the attack, and his shot was blocked by Bernd Leno.

There were more promising signs as Kaoru Mitoma’s carefully curled low cross led to Estupinan and Joao Pedro seeing shots blocked.

The match was being played in heavy rain, making the surface slick, and a swirling wind.

Adingra put a curler up into the breeze and it drifted over the far top corner.

Albion fans filling the noisy half of the Putney End had endured a close-up view of the early Iwobi goal but now sensed their team were posing more of a threat.

Sander Berge’s slide through the back of Joao Pedro earned him the first yellow card of the contest.

Adingra was so close to what by now would have been a deserved equaliser just after the half-hour when his shot was parried by Leno after a thrilling combination down the left by Igor and Mitoma.

The increasing irritation among home fans was clear but they might have had a second goal to cheer in first-half added time as Muniz’s header glanced wide after the hosts’ first decent move for some time.

Fulham almost scored with a move straight from the second-half kick-off as Wilson guided a volley wide on the run.

The hosts wanted handball and a penalty when Baleba used his shoulder to block a Wilson pass.

Then Igor’s clearance of a low cross bounced wide off Wieffer as Fulhm enjoyed a good spell.

Van Hecke made an important headed clearance in that flurry – and then went close to a leveller when he nodded over at a corner.

But Albion were level on 56 minutes and in some style.

Baleba ran on to Joao Pedro’s lay-off of another precise van Hecke pass, drilled a left-foot shot across Leno from outside the box and somersaulted his way towards the delirious Albion fans.

Van Hecke continued to play a huge role as he made what may well have been a goal-saving challenge as Reiss Nelson hesitated over a shot.

Matt O’Riley saw a shot blocked at close range before van Hecke’s foul on Nelson brought a yellow card.

The Dutchman looked very annoyed as he was replaced by Tariq Lamptey soon after as Albion switched to a back four to match Fulham’s introduction of speed merchant Adama Traore out wide.

But Fulham regained their lead from a corner, the ball bouncing in off O’Riley amid a chaotic goalmouth scene after Andreas Pereira, who had been booed on to the pitch by some home fans, delivered to the near post.

Dunk felt he had been pushed in the incident but his protests brought only a yellow card.

The evening ended as it began, Iwobi firing home, this time after twisting away from the recently-introduced Evan Ferguson and guiding his shot between two defenders.