Iwobi: We have shown with Newcastle victory we can turn Craven Cottage into a fortress

Alex Iwobi has hailed Fulham’s performance in the 3-1 defeat of Newcastle United at Craven Cottage on Saturday and says the manner of their victory shows they can compete with any team in the Premier League.

The 28-year-old who assisted Emile Smith Rowe for the second goal to become the Nigerian with the most assists in Premier League history says if his side puts up that kind of performance consistently, they can turn the Craven Cottage into a fortress of sort.

‘It was a great performance and a great result. If we remain consistent, we’ll definitely finish better than we did last season. It sends a message to any other team that we can compete with anyone, teams who are going for the top four or the Champions’ League, that no one can come to our fortress and take any points from us.’

The Nigerian has thus demanded that Fulham find the consistency to deliver impressive victories like Saturday’s win regularly.

‘We wanted to bounce back from the Cup defeat that we had and we thought let’s start on the front foot against a team that’s been unbeaten before this match. We aimed to do that and I thought we did, especially in the first half.

‘We work on our link up play in training all the time; me, Antonee Robinson and Emile [Smith Rowe]. We try to make that triangle all the time, so when it’s coming off in games, it’s a plus for us.

‘A big shout out to Antonee Robinson – even though he didn’t get on the ball, he took a couple of defenders [away] and made it easy for me to spot Emile, who made the run in behind.’