I hate to say that Fulham dominated this match, but looking at the stats, it's hard to come to any other conclusion. Fulham had 54% of the possession. Fulham completed 70% of their passes to Burnley's 60%. Fulham had thirteen key passes to Burnley's four. The teams completed an equal number of long balls (27/80 for Fulham versus 28/86 for Burnley). Fulham won more duels. Fulham completed eleven dribbles, Burnley had zero. You have to go all the way to interceptions to find a stat that Burnley was well ahead in, but you'd expect to lose on interceptions when you attempt that many more passes than your opponents.
Of course we've seen this before. Fulham dominate possession with short passes, but don't manage to create much. While Fulham didn't create as many scoring chances as one would like, they did manage eighteen shots. Eleven of those shots were from within the six or eighteen yard box. Six of those shots were on goal. Three of those shots were big chances. Burnley only managed ten shots. Only six shots came within the penalty area. Only three were on target. Yet they somehow managed to score on both of their big chances. Add in another penalty, and they come away with a win.
Slavisa Jokanovic had this to say about the match:
Yes, we did play a very good game, but more important in this sport is the result.
We were weak in a few situations and it’s very difficult to take. We can’t rely on scoring four goals to win the game. We need to push harder and be more solid in the game in order to win the three points.
In many games we score plenty of goals, but these goals aren’t enough to give us three points at the moment.
This is the fifth penalty in the last nine games. We have given away many unnecessary penalties.
Today, their second goal was from a throw-in. And then the last goal was a one on one situation and he made it look very easy.
It's hard to have moral victories when you are two points above relegation. But Fulham just outplayed the best team in the division over 90 minutes. They gave up three goals, but Burnley is the only team to have scored more than Fulham. If they play this well from here on out, they should pick up plenty of points.
The next fixture may be the most important of the season. Bristol City is below Fulham in the table and has a goal differential of minus 25. Their defense is almost as porous as Fulham's. If Fulham can't win that fixture, things going forward will be bleak