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There were Fulham fans waving Israeli flags around Craven Cottage. You knew who they were here for. They wanted to see Manor Solomon, or ‘King Solomon’ as some began to call it.
And boy did he comply. For the third successive Premier League game, the £6m signing from Shakhtar Donetsk was brought in as a substitute and scored, this time securing a point from a close contest with Wolves.
It was an elegant curling shot that flew into the corner in the 64th minute that saved Fulham here. If ever a player is gaining a reputation as a ‘super sub’ it’s Solomon, although on the bench is not where he wants to be.
The 23-year-old Israel international has yet to start a Premier League game for Fulham. He can’t do much more than this, and coach Marco Silva will surely reward him soon enough.
One point each felt right at the end. There was little to separate these sides over the 90 minutes, with Pablo Sarabia’s clever finishing off a deft move giving Wolves a first-half lead. That could have been the story on another night.
Manor Solomon (left) gave Fulham a point in a close 1-1 draw against Wolves on Friday
The Israeli winger came on as a substitute at halftime and changed the game for the locals
His ingenious curling strike beat Wolves goalkeeper José Sa to mark his third in three matches.
January signing Pablo Sarabia (right) had opened the scoring for Wolves in the first half
Marco Silva’s team went two points from fifth while Wolves went four from the relegation zone.
But here, Solomon made more of it with another stellar performance as a substitute.
Twelve minutes later, we hadn’t seen a shot of any note. It was a slow start. So slow that Wolves fans resorted to making their own amusement, having spotted Gary Neville in the Sky Sports studio to their left. They sang about him being so-and-so, and he danced to his little song.
In the 13th minute, Neville finally had something to analyze. Nelson Semedo displayed some elegant footwork before rolling a through ball to Matheus Nunes. The cross from him was destined for a touch from Raúl Jiménez until Tim Ream’s sliding clearance.
In the 18th minute came Joao Palhinha’s usual yellow card for a late tackle on Matheus Cunha. His tenth booking of the season, Fulham’s influential defensive midfielder will miss his next two games: back-to-back London derbies against Brentford and Arsenal.
Sarabia was behind the first goal attempt of the game, with the January signing from Paris Saint-Germain forcing Bernd Leno to make a save that was picked up quite easily.
But Leno couldn’t stop Sarabia the next time he took aim. In the 23rd minute, he took possession and extended it to Nunes before continuing his charge forward.
Nunes’ subsequent cross led to a muffled header from Jiménez for Sarabia, who finished off with his left foot and then finished off with his right foot to put it 1-0 up.
Sarabia’s resume boasts a Champions League semi-final appearance for PSG in 2020 and the 30-year-old was showing his class here at Wolves’ right-hand side.
Fulham’s first shot on goal came from the head of Carlos Vinicius, although the ball flew into the arms of Jose Sa. Vinicius replaced Aleksandar Mitrovic, the injured striker who was watching from the stands, no doubt frustrated.
Trailing 1-0 at half-time, Fulham hadn’t offered enough in the final third. Silva made two trades: Solomon for Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Sasa Lukic for Harrison Reed.
In the 55th minute, Cunha and Sarabia went down injured for Wolves, who wanted the ball out of play. Fulham refused. They played on hoping to take advantage of their opponents’ nine men, possibly suspecting it was a ploy to waste time.
As Fulham’s attack fizzled out, there was shoving between the players. Meanwhile, Cunha was carried away on a stretcher. She did not feign injury there.
In minute 64 it was time for Solomon. With the ball at his feet, he jumped inside and curled a shot towards Sa’s goal. He had a long way to go but the Wolves goalkeeper was nowhere near him.
Once again, Solomon had done the business as a substitute.
Fulham thought they had won it in the middle of eight minutes of injury time. Vinicius’s header seemed destined for the Wolves goal. But Sa somehow got down to business and divided up the loot.