By Mark Doig at Craven Cottage
STARTING the final game of the Premier League season equal on points, both Fulham and Newcastle United knew that no combination of results would allow either to qualify for European football next season.
Temperatures at Craven Cottage tipped into the low-30s, so it was not surprising that the game had an end-of-season feel to it. However, Fulham had more about them over the 90 minutes, and deserved the three points after goals from Issa Diop and substitute Tom Cairney.
The hosts were certainly the better side in the first quarter of an hour with Alex Iwobi involved in a lot of their best moves. He had their first goal attempt with a shot that was blocked to send it over. Antonee Robinson then tried his luck but his shot from 25 yards was deflected wide.
In the nineteenth minute, Marco Silva’s side went ahead. Kevin’s superb free-kick from 30 yards cleared the two-man wall and struck the bar, with Diop the quickest to react to head nto the empty net.
Emile Smith Rowe then burst forward for the Cottagers but couldn’t get any power on his shot allowing former Charlton Athletic and Welling United goalkeeper Nick Pope to gather.
At the other end, Joe Willock, who was a late inclusion in Eddie Howe’s starting line-up after Sandro Tonali was injured in the warm-up, gave Fulham a scare with a low diagonal cross that was just out William Osula’s, and Timothy Castagne was able to hack it clear.
Two half-chances came and went for the hosts’ front man Rodrigo Muniz, first a diving header from Kevin’s dinked cross that Pope stopped, then a first-time effort wide of the near post after Castagne had done well to pull it back from the byline.
For the first and only time in the afternoon, Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Lemo was called into action when saving a Willock shot with his right leg after the midfielder had been played in by Nick Woltemade.
However, the hosts continued to have the better of the possession without finding the clinical final pass to create clear-cut chances.
Fulham went close early in the second period when Muniz rose to meet an Oscar Bobb corner but it hit his shoulder and went past the near post.
Attacking the end that housed their supporters, the Magpies started to lift their game without looking threatening and Fulham made a first change on the hour-mark when 35-year-old Cairney replaced the injured Kevin.
Players requiring treatment, yellow cards, drink breaks, and substitutions meant that the game became scrappy. Cairney went close with a 20-yard shot that whistled inches wide after Iwobi’s cross was headed out.
Having not learned from their previous scares, Newcastle again allowed Cairney far too much space on the edge of the area and this time he made them pay with a brilliant 25-yard strike into the top-left corner that gave Pope no chance.
Fulham almost added a third after Josh King burst through the middle. Pope made a good save from his shot, but the bal landed at the feet of Harry Wilson who dragged his low effort wide.
To their credit, Newcastle kept going and Lewis Hall had a shot deflected wide by a team-mate before Harvey Barnes went close with a header that was off-target from an Anthony Elanga free-kick
Iwobi curled an effort beyond the far post in stoppage-time before the referee’s whistle brought the 2025-26 season to a close with Fulham finishing in eleventh place and Newcastle three points back in twelfth.
