Manchester United midfielder past and present shone in the Premier League in midweek with Andreas Pereira the driving force behind Fulham’s 5-0 win as Scott McTominay fired Erik ten Hag’s side past Chelsea.
With a goal in either half, Scott McTominay took his top-flight tally to five. His best ever Premier League return, and we’ve not even finished our Christmas shopping.
And if the nature of Chelsea’s performance was frustrating enough for the visiting Blues – a 2-1 scoreline hiding a 4-1 game – a crushing victory celebrated wildly by their West London neighbours was very much a salt-meet-wounds sort of situation.
Fulham hammered a beleaguered Steve Cooper at Craven Cottage, feeling the Nottingham Forest as Andres Pereira revved his chainsaw and led a chorus of ‘Timber!’.
Former Manchester United ace shines for Fulham
Pereira, a £10 million signing from Manchester United in the summer of 2022, produced a hat-trick of assists in a 5-0 thrashing.
He set up Raul Jimenez’s first of the net with a clever through ball, created the Mexican’s magical, Berbatov-esque second, and then played in Tom Cairney to lather a thick layer of icing on top of a very tasty Fulham cake.
“I’m really pleased,” Fulham coach Marco Silva beams, his team finally getting the reward for their attacking brilliance three days after going down 4-3 at Anfield. “Delighted with the win, the result. The players deserve all the credit. Great team performance, great result for us.
“Of course, some really nice goals as well. Congratulations, they deserve the credit, the players.”
Three assists in 5-0 win
Pereira’s lack of creativity from open play has been a source of much frustration among Fulham supporters of late, the one-time Brazil international often relying on set-piece situations.
This, then, was a timely riposte to his critics, Pereira’s tally of four key passes more than double anyone else on the pitch when Forest came to the capital (WhoScored).
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