Silva hails Fulham’s ‘desire and belief’ as Cottagers beat Brighton to enter top six

Fulham head coach Marco Silva praised the “desire and belief” of his team to snatch a late 1-0 win at Brighton and Hove Albion.

Manor Solomon’s 88th-minute goal sent Fulham up to sixth in the Premier League, leapfrogging Brighton in the process.

The hosts had the majority of the chances, recording 21 shots to five, with the Cottagers not having any in a one-sided first half.

However, Solomon struck in the dying minutes after racing onto a throughball from Carlos Vinicius, hitting a shot low and hard across Robert Sanchez to win it.

Speaking to BBC Sport after the game, Silva said: “It was a tough game against a very good side, the way they play and the way they are dominant. They did against us what they have been doing against all the teams in this league.

“We improved in the second half, in the first half we were not at our best. We made changes and we improved.

“Overall it wasn’t our best performance, but we showed the resilience, the desire and the belief until the last minute to keep the clean sheet and win the game.

“They created more chances than us, but we have lost some games where we have been the better team.”

All six of Solomon’s league appearances for Fulham have been from the bench, with the Israeli netting in his last two games, averaging a goal every 41 minutes in the competition.

“He deserves all the credit, a great finish from him,” Silva said of the goalscorer. “It was another great moment for him. Everyone expected him to cut inside and finish with the right foot but he did the opposite.

“He’s getting better and better and better and deserves all the good things because 2022 was so difficult for him on and off the pitch. He’s helping us scoring goals and is loving the Premier League. He is ready to help us.”

As for Fulham’s prospects of qualifying for Europe in their first season back in England’s top flight, Silva added: “Of course I congratulate the boys, but my focus is on them to recover and prepare them better for the next game because we have to do better with the ball.

“All my focus is making them better.”