Fulham 3-1 Sheffield United: Chris Basham suffers horror injury in bizarre Blades defeat at Craven Cottage

Sheffield United captain Chris Basham suffered a sickening injury in the first half before Fulham won 3-1 on a bizarre afternoon at Craven Cottage.

Basham suffered a nasty injury to his lower left leg during an attempted cross, which caused a 12-minute delay midway through the first half as he was on a stretcher and carried to the hospital.

Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom believes the incident has not affected his team, who suffered a seventh defeat in eight Premier League matches.

“He is where he needs to be, in the hospital with the doctors and the medical team,” Heckingbottom said of Basham. “No one ever wants to see that. When you’re involved in that and it’s one of your players, it’s much, much worse. It’s terrible, horrible.

“We lost a good player, we will have to make changes that we don’t want to change. We can’t blame that. Of course it will affect us and for the season, but would it change the result in the game, who knows? I don’t think it affected us, we made the adjustments at halftime and I was happy with the way we came out.”

Bobby Decordova-Reid gave Fulham a deserved lead early in the second half, although the visitors equalized in controversial circumstances after centre-back Issa Diop was injured while on the ball, but Sheffield United continued to play, leading to Antonee Robinson converting into his own net. .

However, Fulham fortuitously restored their lead when Tom Cairney’s missed shot hit the crossbar, then off the back of goalkeeper Wes Foderingham and into the net before Willian finished off the points in injury time to leave Sheffield United bottom of the Premier League with one point.

How Fulham beat Sheffield United

Sheffield United did not register a single shot in the first half as Fulham created every chance in front of goal. Decordova-Reid saw her close-range effort deflected by Auston Trusty before Willian forced a fine save from Foderingham.

Basham then suffered a sickening injury in the 23rd minute as he attempted to deliver a cross from the right, which caused a long delay and led to a standing ovation from the whole of Craven Cottage as he was on a stretcher.

Deep into added time, Willian’s cross gifted a golden opportunity to Andreas Pereira, who crossed from the six-yard line.

Decordova-Reid then slipped into the bottom corner from Perieira’s perfect pass to give Fulham a deserved lead.

Sheffield United finally had their first shots of the match before equalizing. Diop was injured deep in his own half while in possession and the visitors quickly slipped substitute Yasser Larouci down the left and his cross was sent into the net by Robinson.

Fulham were furious that the visitors had played out, but they regained the lead thanks to a huge amount of luck. Substitute Tom Cairney slipped while shooting from 25 yards, sending the ball looping towards goal, hitting the crossbar and then the back of Foderingham before going in.

Harry Wilson saw a bending effort come back off the left post late on before Willian’s injury-time shot could be kept out by Foderingham.

Heckingbottom: We are naive

Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom: “We fought. We were organized and frustrated Fulham. We were comfortable.

“We started the second half well, but then we gave Fulham too many chances on counterattacks with our corners and throw-ins. That probably shows naivety. There is no chance that they deviate from those moments, but they did it.

“It shows that we still have a naivety at this level. That’s probably the difference, the speed of thought in transition.

“You get what you deserve and we are where we deserve to be. Right now, the things that can go against us go against us. But we have to deal with it. We are the only ones who can get through this . of this.”

Silva: The players continued to believe in the plan

Marco Silva, Fulham coach: “Job done and well done. Three well deserved points, an important win and some very well played moments. They were difficult to beat, at Tottenham is an example where they were leading after 90 minutes.

“Basham has had a sad time in this situation. The football club and I wish him all the best and a speedy recovery from his serious injury.

“The first half was at a very good level. We created a very good number of chances but unfortunately we didn’t score. The players continued to believe in the plan and after scoring in the second half, We deserved the three points.”

On Sheffield United’s equalizer: “It’s a strange moment, it’s football, we have to learn. When Issa (Diop) went down, at that moment we have to be much more ruthless to not let them into certain areas.

“It was an unlucky moment but we should have done much better. We didn’t give them anything until that moment. Out of nowhere they equalized.

“Issa heard a crack in his foot. They’re evaluating him. We have to wait but it’s not looking good.”

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Opta Stats: Own goal becomes Sheff Utd’s top scorer

• Sheffield United have now lost seven of their first eight Premier League matches this season (D1). Indeed, the Blades were the last top-flight team to lose as many as seven of their opening eight league matches, doing so in 2020-21 (D1 L7).
• Marco Silva is only the second Portuguese Premier League manager to record 50 wins (18x Fulham, 19x Everton, 7x Watford, 6x Hull) after José Mourinho (217).
• Seven of Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s 11 Premier League goals for Fulham have been the first goal of the match, including each of his last three.
• Antonee Robinson’s own goal for Fulham was the second Sheffield United have benefited from in the Premier League this season – the most common (tied with Tottenham and Liverpool). Indeed, Gustavo Hamer is the only Sheffield United player to have scored more than one goal in the competition in 2023-24 (2).

And after?

Fulham the next game is a championship trip to Tottenham after the international break on Monday October 23, live on Sky Sports Premier League from 6:30 p.m. Kick-off at 8 p.m.

Sheffield United will face Men Utd at Bramall Lane on Saturday October 21, live on Sky Sports Premier League from 7:30 p.m. Kick-off at 8 p.m.