Fulham 5-3 Leicester: Rampant Cottagers slay hapless Foxes as Dean Smith’s side stare at relegation

Relegation fears deepened for Dean Smith as his flimsy Leicester team leaked five by the River Thames.

Fulham started in rampant style. Racing into a three-goal lead by half time, they were 4-0 up within five minutes of the restart before Smith’s team, jeered off at the interval by angry fans, produced an unlikely and ultimately useless recovery.

Harvey Barnes scored twice, James Maddison converted a penalty and Jamie Vardy saw a spot-kick saved as the home side were punished for coasting through the final half hour.

The damage for Leicester, however, was done, with two goals each for Tom Cairney and WIllian, and a goal for Carlos Vinicius, Fulham’s lead was too great and the Premier League champions of 2016 face up to the possibility of relegation with three to play, at home against Liverpool and West Ham, either side of a trip to Newcastle.

Fulham’s fine first season back in the Premier League had seemed in danger of fading away. They had lost eight of their previous 10 with their numbers depleted. Key men Tim Ream and Andreas Pereira are injured, ruled out for the rest of the season, and top scorer Aleksandr Mitrovic served the last of his eight-match ban against Leicester.

Willian scored twice as Fulham thumped struggling Leicester at Craven Cottage on Monday

A woeful first-half display from the visting Foxes showed why they are in the relegation mix

Dean Smith and his Leicester management team have their work cut out to avoid the drop

Even so, there were no problems seizing took control, threatening from early set pieces even before Willian scored the first from a free-kick from wide on the left, in the 11th minute. Willian’s expert delivery swerved and dipped as it made its way through a crowded penalty area without a touch and caught goalkeeper Daniel Iversen out as it fizzed off the turf and past him.

It was the 60th goal conceded this season by Leicester in the Premier League. They have not kept a clean sheet since November, before the World Cup, and it was not difficult to see why as Fulham sliced them open, seemingly at will.

Vinicius made it 2-0. Released by a pass from Harry Wilson, he timed his run well, took a touch and slid the ball past Iversen from the edge of the penalty box with his left foot.

Briefly, Leicester came to life and flickered as an attacking force. Bernd Leno saved from Jamie Vardy and Youri Tielemans, and Timothy Castagne headed over. But they were so vulnerable at the back with no resistance anywhere through the team.

Whenever Fulham won the ball – and with the fabulous Joao Palhinha patrolling the midfield they won it often – they met with no resistance, enabling them to forward at speed into space, causing problems for the central defenders.

Iversen saved from Harrison Reed and Vinicius headed wide but the third came before half time, another delightful move from Fulham’s perspective but another example of flimsy defending by the visitors.

Cairney collected a pass from Vinicius, feinted one way, checked back onto his right foot and curled the ball beyond Iversen, inside the far post. The long-serving Fulham captain was a popular scorer and converted his second soon after the interval.

Again, it was a sweeping counterattack met without resistance. Kenny Tete carried the ball forward down the right before cutting a pass square. Cairney took it in his stride and beat Iversen with a side-footer.

Fulham fans turned up the volume on another chant aimed at Smith’s coach John Terry, for so long the captain of nearby Fulham. ‘Terry what’s the score,’ they demanded to know. Smith hauled off his captain Tielemans, who had been entirely ineffective.

Then began something of amounting to a Leicester response. Harvey Barnes pulled a goal back, firing in off the bar from a pass by James Maddison, and Vardy won a penalty, sent tumbling by ‘keeper Leno as he burst onto a pass from Castagne.

After a VAR check, Vardy took the penalty only to see it saved by Leno, diving to his left.

Carlos Vinicius scored Fulham’s second in a vibrant first-half display which sunk Leicester

Jamie Vardy missed a penalty for the visitors, although James Maddison later converted his

Harvey Barnes scored two for the Foxes, but the final scoreline flattered the struggling side

Fulham scored their fifth and Willian his second of the game. Jinking once more inside from the left wing, he skipped past Castgne and substitute Wilfried Ndidi, and found the bottom corner with a sweet curling effort.

Leicester reduced the deficit when awarded their second penalty of the game. Palhinha was ruled to have tripped Maddison. It was innocuous although not overruled and Maddison took the kick, sending Leno the wrong way and finding the net.

Then Barnes grabbed his second in the 89th minute. Fulham sub Shane Duffy wrong-footed Leno with a header, allowing Patson Daka to nip in and set up Barnes, who swept the ball into the net from close range.

Suddenly, the difference was down to two goals and Vardy’s missed penalty seemed much more important that it had done at the time. But the scoreline flattered Leicester. If they do not learn how to defend better and fast they are in trouble.