Coach Marco Silva of Fulham has admitted that Alex Iwobi and Calvin Bassey are important players in his squad for this season.
The Nigerians scored the goals in their 2-1 win over Manchester United for Fulham to move within three points of the top 10, while they are also 12 points clear of the bottom three and 12th in the Premier League table.
Bassey and Iwobi, who were handed their first starts for Fulham since returning from Africa Cup of Nations duty with losing finalists Nigeria, Silva said: “They know really well how they are important for us. This afternoon just showed how much we have missed them.
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“They are two really important players for us. I remember the last game they played together, before the Man United game, was at home against Arsenal and we won 2-1 as well, they were really important for us that afternoon.
“We are a team, a group of players, even without Joao Palhinha and Willian, who have both been so important for us, we are much more than [one] player, we have shown that we are a team.”
Meanwhile, Fulham’s matchwinner Iwobi has added the Man of the Match award to his tally of accolades from the win against Manchester United.
Iwobi has been a bubble of dynamism all afternoon and had been unfortunate not to have already popped his name on the scoresheet.
Bagging the goal that secured Fulham a first win away to United in 21 years saw 41.7% of fans give Iwobi their backing for Man of the Match.
Saša Lukić deserves credit for ensuring João Palhinha’s absence was not felt as critically as it might have been, and he duly came in second with 23.4%, ahead of Calvin Bassey (11.3%) and Rodrigo Muniz (8.9%).
