Fulham remain on course for a club record Premier League points haul after the ever-impressive Clint Dempsey spurred his side to victory against Sunderland.
Martin Jol will return to his former club Tottenham Hotspur on the last day of the season knowing Fulham lie one point shy of their previous record, secured under Roy Hodgson in the 2008‑09 season.
If Fulham achieve the feat, much of the praise will be deservedly directed at Dempsey in a season in which he has scored 23 goals in all competitions. The USA international's future may be in doubt but it did not stop him scoring against Sunderland, firing home a superb 25-yard free-kick after 12 minutes.
Phil Bardsley temporarily brought Sunderland level with an excellent strike only for Fulham to respond immediately, with Moussa Dembélé seeing a 20-yard strike take a slight deflection off Michael Turner as it flew home.
The introduction of Nicklas Bendtner and Frazier Campbell saw Sunderland end on a high but they could not find a way past Fulham, who secured their fifth win in seven games to leave them with a record-equalling seventh-place finish within grasp.
They were boosted by the return of manager Jol, who missed the games at Everton and Liverpool suffering from a chest infection. He brought Mahamadou Diarra in for Alex Kacaniklic to face Sunderland, who drafted in Ji Dong-won, Simon Mignolet and Craig Gardner into the starting lineup.
Sunderland started brightly on the banks of the Thames but Fulham soon found their feet. Having seen Pavel Pogrebnyak come close to connecting with a Damien Duff cross, the latter latched on to a superb long ball from the back only to see a well-struck effort smothered by Mignolet.
The early attacking impetus translated into the opening goal in the 12th minute when Fulham were awarded a free-kick. Lee Cattermole blocked off Diarra and Dempsey stepped up to fire a right-footed effort with pace and swerve into the top corner.
The lead was almost wiped out four minutes later, though, as Stéphane Sessègnon broke into the area, with only indecision and superb goalkeeping from Mark Schwarzer thwarting the Benin international.
Fulham were soon back on the offensive and a second goal would have come through Pogrebnyak had Turner not been alert to block his goalbound strike eight yards from goal.
The game burst into life after 34 minutes when Bardsley finished a move he started. The defender collected a Ji cutback to fire home a thunderbolt from outside the box.
Sunderland were not celebrating for long as Dembélé fired an instant reply. The Belgian broke from the halfway line and unleashed a 20-yard effort that took a slight deflection off Turner and flew into the top left-hand corner.
Fulham were chomping at the bit as they looked for a third and Duff fired into the side-netting, before Sunderland came close through a Gardner free-kick.
Martin O'Neill brought on Bendtner for Ji and Sunderland began to grow into the game following the introduction of the on-loan Arsenal striker, who was soon joined in attack by Campbell – on for Matthew Kilgallon.
Campbell put through Bendtner, who could only curl wide when well placed. The pair linked up again as the latter's cushioned header set up Campbell, who could only lash wide from close range. Turner headed straight at Schwarzer as Sunderland continued to press, before Fulham replaced Pogrebnyak and Murphy with Kerim Frei and Chris Baird.
Dembélé saw a shot saved smartly by Mignolet as the clock wound down, before Schwarzer produced a superb save to prevent Campbell in stoppage time. Read More
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