Fulham 5 - 0 Wolves: Toothless Wolves undone by five-star Fulham

Pavel Pogrebnyak’s superb start to life at Fulham continued as he netted a hat-trick in yesterday’s 5-0 thrashing of struggling Wolves.

Having scored in his previous two appearances, the Russia international continued that form against Wolves yesterday with a first-half double.

The Stuttgart loanee gave the Cottagers a 36th-minute lead by heading home a Damien Duff corner, before hitting a fine second as half-time approached.

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Fulham continued in the same vein in the second period and, after Clint Dempsey’s effort put them on course for a third successive league win, Pogrebnyak bundled home his third of the afternoon. Dempsey netted Fulham’s fifth in the 83rd minute to leave Wolves with just one win in 13 league games.

Fulham dominated from the outset and Wolves had to withstand a barrage of attacks in an opening 20-minute spell that was made worse when midfielder Karl Henry limped off to be replaced by Nenad Milijas.

The Serbian’s introduction began a spell in the ascendancy for the Black Country side, but Fulham still enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and should have taken the lead through Andrew Johnson, but Wayne Hennessey somehow blocked with his legs.

The home side’s dominance eventually translated into the opener in the 36th minute when Duff whipped in a corner for Pogrebnyak to head home from close range.

Pogrebnyak doubled Fulham’s advantage eight minutes later after Fulham made the most of an awful cross-field ball from Milijas. Dempsey chased it down and the ball was worked wide to Johnson, who teed up Pogrebnyak to fire home with aplomb.

In the second period, after Dempsey collected a sublime Danny Murphy pass and slotted home Fulham’s third, Terry Connor brought on top scorer Steven Fletcher, but moments later keeper Hennessey was picking the ball out of his net once more.

The Welshman could not get hold of a Johnson shot, which squirmed out of his grasp allowing Pogrebnyak to complete his hat-trick in the 61st minute.

Dempsey completed the scoring with his second of the afternoon after connecting with a Mahamadou Diarra pass in the 83rd minute.

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