Harry Wilson scored a spectacular late free-kick as Fulham came from behind to defeat Brighton at Craven Cottage.

After Yasin Ayari produced a moment of magic to put the visitors in front in the first half, the Cottagers equalised through substitute Samuel Chukwueze before Wilson produced the winning strike in the 92nd minute.

Fulham were in the ascendancy when Ayari picked up possession on the left and cut inside before unleashing a venomous strike from the edge of the box past the diving Bernd Leno in the 28th minute.

The Seagulls almost doubled their lead two minutes later when Leno kept out Kaoru Mitoma's initial effort before Ferdi Kadioglu's header on the rebound was cleared off the line by Timothy Castagne.

The game opened up in the early stages of the second half and Fulham drew level through Chukwueze, who latched on to a long ball from Joachim Andersen and slotted past goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen to restore parity.

Brighton thought they had regained the lead a couple of minutes later only for Danny Welbeck's effort to be ruled out by the video assistant referee for offside before the striker also had a header tipped over the bar.

However, it was the hosts who found the decisive goal in the stoppage time as Wilson beat Verbruggen from 25 yards with a free-kick awarded for a foul by Charalampos Kostoulas on Josh King.

Fulham climb to seventh in the Premier League table with 34 points while Brighton are four points behind in 12th.

Fulham's impressive six-game unbeaten run came to a screeching halt at Leeds last week with them producing just a single shot on target and an xG of 0.39 in the 1-0 defeat.

Looking to bounce back, Marco Silva's side were the more progressive of the two sides early on with Raul Jimenez's near-post effort in the 24th minute denied by a fine save from Verbruggen.

However, Ayari's brilliant opener proved to be a shock to Fulham's system - one from which they failed to recover for the remainder of the first half.

Silva turned to his bench to spark the comeback with Chukwueze, who helped Nigeria finish third at the Africa Cup of Nations with a penalty shootout win last Saturday, grabbing the equaliser 13 minutes into his return.

They have now had 33 goal involvements from their substitutes since the start of the 2024-25 Premier League season, with only Brighton (39) recording more.

The winner came in the dying moments as Wilson's clever free-kick sent Brighton keeper Verbruggen scrambling across his goal in vain as the Wales international scored his ninth goal of the season.

Since the start of November, only Erling Haaland (12) has been involved in more league goals than Wilson, who has scored seven and assisted four in 14 appearances.

The win should give Fulham plenty of confidence before they take on fifth-placed Manchester United next week.

Fulham and Brighton were 11th and 12th heading into this fixture but the congested nature of the Premier League table means European qualification is still a very realistic target for both sides.

The Cottagers have not featured in Europe since the 2011-12 Europa League while Brighton's only continental adventure came in 2023-24 in the same competition. So the stakes were higher than the league positions suggested here and the defeat left Fabian Hurzeler and his players in a state of shock.

The Seagulls were the better side for much of the contest and had opportunities to double the lead with Kadioglu and Pascal Gross denied by clearances off the line by Castagne.

Lewis Dunk and Welbeck also went close early in the second half as they looked to put the result beyond doubt before Welbeck found the back of the net after straying inches offside in the build-up.

As Brighton failed to take advantage of the opportunities - converting just one of the four big chances - Fulham produced just two but made the moments count.

Fulham will travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United in their next Premier League match on Sunday, 1 February (14:00 GMT) while Brighton welcome Everton to Amex Stadium on Saturday, 31 January (15:00).