Wolves missed the chance to move further away from the Premier League relegation zone after Ryan Sessegnon and Rodrigo Muniz struck to give Fulham a 2-1 victory at Molineux.

Vitor Pereira’s side remain five points ahead of the bottom three but Ipswich and Leicester could cut that advantage later this week.

Fulham boss Marco Silva made five changes and Sessegnon vindicated the decision to start him when he gave his side the lead in the first minute.

Wanderers responded and Joao Gomes came back to haunt the Cottagers 17 minutes later as he netted for the first time in the league since their 4-1 victory in the return fixture back in November.

Fulham caught their opponents cold at the start of the half for a second time courtesy of Muniz’s fifth goal of the season with a clever chip and Wolves were unable to respond as the Cottagers boosted their own hopes of Europe next season.

The visitors stunned Molineux into silence with 58 seconds on the clock.

Muniz held the ball up well and his clever touch found Andreas Pereira who set Sessegnon on his way and he was able to coolly dispatch beyond Jose Sa.

Wolves responded in relatively bright fashion though, a succession of shots from Gomes and Matt Doherty was followed by Andre’s harmless effort from distance.

The hosts, who have won three of their last four in all competitions, began to settle and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s cross spilled out to an unmarked Gomes who snatched his effort wide.

Gomes was not to be denied again as he brought the hosts level.

Rayan Ait-Nouri’s cheeky footwork opened up the space for Bellegarde and his cross bounced off Nelson Semedo and nicely for the Brazilian who blasted high past a helpless Bernd Leno.

The home faithful were not taking too kindly to referee Peter Bankes who played on after Matheus Cunha was dragged to the floor by Issa Diop, and the ball eventually came to Adama Traore who was denied by Sa.

Momentum continued to swing throughout the half. Wolves looked the more likely to take the lead heading into the interval, Cunha’s strike forcing Leno to fingertip over the crossbar.

Wolves were punished shortly after kick-off again as Fulham retook their lead.

Traore picked out the run of Muniz and Sa came racing off his line which made up the striker’s mind to easily dink over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

Gomes attempted to inject some energy into a rather quiet Molineux but he saw his free header from a corner bounce wide.

Raul Jimenez received a warm welcome from his former supporters and almost got a third, beating the offside trap but aiming straight at Sa.