ALEX Iwobi’s landmark English Premier League appearance today did not end well as Fulham lost 2-1 at Newcastle United, with Chelsea going down by the same scoreline at home to Sunderland.
The Super Eagles midfielder was making his 300th Premier League appearance, becoming the first Nigerian to reach this milestone in the competition, just a week after his 299th game surpassed Shola Ameobi’s previous record.
Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimaraes netted a dramatic late winner to stretch Fulham’s losing run at St James’ Park.
It looked like Newcastle were going to have to settle for a share of the spoils against injury-hit Fulham.
But in the 90th minute Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno could only parry substitute William Osula’s shot into the path of Guimaraes and the midfielder took full advantage to fire home from close range.
Fulham had earlier come from behind as midfielder Sasa Lukic’s header cancelled out Jacob Murphy’s opener.
Fulham substitute Kevin whipped a teasing cross to the back post to Raul Jimenez, who rattled the crossbar with a first-time volley, with the ball bouncing inside the box and Lukic getting there ahead of Sven Botman.
But Newcastle pushed for a winner and the hosts got their reward late on to build on the midweek victory against Benfica in the Champions League.
Fulham, meanwhile, have now lost each of their past four games.
Iwobi and his Super Eagles teammate Calvin Bassey were in Fulham’s starting line-up, with the former getting substituted off in added time.
At Stamford Bridge, Sunderland winger Chemsdine Talbi scored a 94th-minute winner as the Black Cats stunned hosts Chelsea.
The promoted side were on the brink of earning a valuable Premier League point in west London, but took all three when Talbi converted from the edge of the box after a quick counter-attack.
With the stunning victory, Sunderland rose to second place in the table, while Chelsea dropped to seventh.