There weren’t many players who came out of Fulham’s defeat to Aston Villa with much credit but new signing Alex Iwobi was one of them.
Covering the match on Sky Sports, Clinton Morrison singled out the Nigerian for praise in the second half after another defeat for Marco Silva’s side.
If there was any doubt going into the match, Fulham are quickly being dragged into the relegation battle.
Results from the weekend saw the Whites drop to 16th in the league with Bournemouth picking up a big win against Newcastle and Wolves defeating Spurs.
Fulham’s point against Arsenal looks like an anomaly at this stage and scoring goals is becoming a huge issue.
Tony Khan didn’t find a suitable replacement for Aleksandar Mitrovic in the transfer window and despite scoring his first league goal for the club, Raul Jimenez has not been a good enough replacement yet.
However, one signing who did make a decent impact for Fulham against Aston Villa was Alex Iwobi.
The versatile £22m Nigerian international looked comfortable on the ball and is combining with his new teammates well.
He’s not the best at tracking his man out of possession but appears to be providing some creative threat in the final third where Andreas Pereira has been lacking recently.
Iwobi stars for Fulham in Villa defeat
During one attack that once again ended in a missed opportunity, Morrison said: “Good play from [Alex] Iwobi, who went past Pau Torres like he wasn’t there.
“He plays it to [Raul] Jimenez, and I’m thinking just looking at the replay that he would have been offside, but it’s unlucky.
“This is how it’s going for Jimenez, he drives it, beats [Emi] Martinez, hits the post comes out to Willian and he blazes it over the bar, but it’s been a good start for Fulham.”
Iwobi, like many of Fulham’s players, needs to find a way to add more goals and assists to his game after the international break.
While that’s not the only important metric to measure his performances on considering he’s playing as a number eight, Fulham thrived last season when everyone chipped in in front of goal.
Iwobi appears to be growing in confidence for Fulham and can take some positives from his display against Aston Villa.
Today’s result makes the match against Wolves even more important after the international break.