Leicester 0-1 Fulham: Aleksandar Mitrovic’s strike makes it three wins in three for the Cottagers

Brendan Rodgers has called in reinforcements as his injury-hit Leicester side slipped to a third straight defeat since the Premier League restart.

Aleksandar Mitrovic’s first-half goal was enough to sink the Foxes, who lost to Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall during the warm-up due to a muscle problem before Boubakary Soumare stopped early in the game with a hamstring problem. As a result, nine first-team players were absent through injury, including their star player James Maddison and captain Jonny Evans.

With that win, Fulham surpassed their points total for the entire 2018-19 season and evened their tally for the 2020-21 season. After their rapid improvement ahead of the World Cup, these are worrying times again for Leicester, who have yet to beat a top-half team this season.

Aleksandar Mitrovic celebrates after breaking the deadlock against Leicester on Tuesday

The Serbia striker ended his seven-game Premier League goal drought for Fulham

Mitrovic collected an intelligent pass from Willian to finish brilliantly for Fulham in the box

Mitrovic (left) celebrates with Willian after the two brilliantly combined in the 18th minute

“Hopefully we can get some strength in January,” said Rodgers, who would like to have a right winger, a left-back and a centre-back. “There’s not a lot of money, but maybe something to do what we want to do.

“It’s a small squad and if we have a couple of injuries we’re close in terms of the numbers we want. That makes it difficult but we have to keep fighting and hope we can bring back a player or two and make it from there.

Guilty of wasting time, Fulham rode their luck, particularly in the second half when Youri Tielemans hit the crossbar with a stunning volley and Ayoze Perez, Harvey Barnes and Jamie Vardy missed excellent chances, but Leicester were still booed at half-time and full time

Vardy is running as hard as ever but turns 36 later this month and is struggling to find the old spark. Leicester need to back Rodgers in the market to give themselves the best chance of avoiding a relegation battle.

Leicester suffered early injury damage after Boubakary Soumare was sent off early on

Willian (left) fends off Youri Tielemans’ challenge in a hard-fought match

Bernd Leno was a superb goal for Fulham and the fans chanted about European football throughout. Manager Marco Silva said: “The fans dream of winning something and it’s important that they can dream. We are here to achieve important things for the club.

“Bernd Leno is a top goalkeeper and it’s no surprise that he plays at a high level. We tried very hard to convince him to come and we have to enjoy having a goalkeeper like him.”

Leicester were already seven players down when Dewsbury-Hall had to be replaced by Wilfred Ndidi before kick-off and things only got worse when Soumare was substituted after just eight minutes.

By then Willian had already missed two good chances for the visitors and it was no surprise when the home side fell behind in the 17th minute.

Mitrovic had just undergone lengthy treatment after suffering a serious ankle injury at the hands of Ndidi but he had recovered in time to control Willian’s cross and head home his 11th goal of the season from close range. It was a clean finish from Mitrovic but the defense was appalling and it wasn’t surprised when the home fans started booing after just 20 minutes.

Tielemans tries his luck with a free-kick but Fulham’s wall blocks his attempt

Referee Darren Bond was shown his yellow card several times in a heated affair

Tielemans tries his luck from afar but fails to test Bernd Leno in the Fulham net

Leicester’s Wout Faes battles for possession with Fulham’s Harrison Reed (left)

Leicester have at least rallied in attack. Perez somehow shot from an unmarked position six yards away after a fabulous work by Tielemans down the right.

A deflected shot from Barnes sent Leno conceding a corner before the German did well to parry Vardy’s cross. The slight improvement didn’t spare Leicester further boos when half-time came.

Leicester should have equalized when Barnes ran for Luke Thomas’ long pass but couldn’t put his shot over Leno, who was standing well. Perez set Vardy up for the kind of chance he takes with ease when he’s in top form – this time Leno’s legs were drilled. Tielemans seemed the Foxes’ most likely inspiration, narrowly curling from 20 yards.

Substitute Kelechi Iheanacho met Perez in the final quarter for another crucial save from Leno. And when Leno was finally defeated by Tielemans’ wild effort from the edge of the box, the crossbar came to his rescue.

Substitute Harry Wilson could have made added time a breeze for Fulham only to go wide in a one-on-one with Danny Ward.