Marco Silva has praised Raul Jimenez’s “killer instinct” after the veteran forward’s late winner helped Fulham beat Sunderland 1-0 at Craven Cottage.
Despite a dominant performance, it looked like the Cottagers would have to settle for a point before Jimenez got on the end of Samuel Chukwueze’s superb left-wing cross to give the hosts the lead in the 84th minute.
It was a precious three points for the west Londoners, who had lost five of their previous six league games.
In his post-match conference, Silva hailed Jimenez’s resilience, with the 34-year-old having rebuilt his career at Fulham after recovering from a life-threatening head injury whilst playing for Wolves in 2020.
“It speaks about his killer instinct,” the head coach said at full-time.
“It’s something that we all should enjoy if you are a Fulham fan or not, but if you are a Premier League fan, you have these guys so many years in this country scoring goals and scoring goals.
“He had the worst moment of his life, I don’t know, five or six years ago. The way he bounced back with our help, with the help of this football club, he knows how he’s going to be always playing with his heart.”
“He can perform amazingly well, other moments not so well, but you know that his heart is going to be always there, he’s going to give everything for the shirt he can do.
“He can give and after if you provide something good for him inside the box, he can show the killer instinct that he has, and he did it again this afternoon.”
Up against Sunderland centre-half Dan Ballard, who ranks fourth for aerial duels won in the Premier League this season, Jimenez battled hard in torrential conditions and stayed sharp to steal a march on the Northern Irishman for the winning goal.
Silva said that Jimenez’s goal, his first at home in the league this season, was an important moment for the Mexican, tasked with stepping up in the absence of Rodrigo Muniz, who is sidelined until the new year with a hamstring injury.
“Definitely an important moment for him, in a tough game for him, sometimes fighting with those big guys, big fights always, defenders with him,” Silva continued.
“One or two moments probably a different decision, should have created more decisions from him in some moments but with the goals he’s going to get there with the right confidence for that type of decision and after in the right moment of the game.
“Great assist, great pass from Chukwueze in that moment and what a goal, proper striker’s goal in that moment.”
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