Fulham closed the gap on Sky Bet Championship leaders Bournemouth after a crushing 7-0 win at 10-man Blackburn

Marco Silva’s men were utterly ruthless as they swatted aside a Blackburn team who had lost only once on home turf this season.

Any discussion of a tricky night was put to bed within 19 minutes as the Cottagers raced into a two-goal lead through Neeskens Kebano’s precise finish and a close-range Aleksandar Mitrovic header – his ninth goal in the last five games.

The game was effectively ended as a contest on the half hour when Blackburn’s Jan Paul Van Hecke was dismissed for a dangerous tackle and Fulham ran riot thereafter.

Harry Wilson’s brace in the space of four second-half minutes – a controlled 54th-minute strike followed by a powerful effort struck beyond Thomas Kaminski made it four but they were merciless and Kebano’s deflected shot made it five in the 79th minute.

Substitute Rodrigo Muniz netted a brace of his own by converting Kebano’s cross and clinically heading home in stoppage time as Fulham moved within two points of Bournemouth after a fifth successive win that has yielded 20 goals.

The Cottagers wasted no time showcasing their firepower, hitting the front in the sixth minute when Bobby Decordova-Reid weaved his way into the box and squared for Kebano, who timed his run to perfection and rifled into the top corner.

The 19th minute brought goal 19 of the season for Mitrovic, who was given the freedom of the six-yard box to nod in Jean Michael Seri’s pinpoint corner from close range.

Ben Brereton Diaz struck the side netting for Blackburn but that was as good as it got, as Van Hecke saw red on the half hour for a high challenge that upended Wilson.

Fulham seized total control and their lead would have been bigger at the break but for Kaminski superbly denying both Harrison Reed and Mitrovic.

The pattern continued after the break, with Kaminski producing heroics to deny Decordova-Reid when clean through, but the inevitable third came in the 54th minute when Mitrovic’s wonderful ball found Wilson who coolly slotted under Kaminski.

He had his fifth of the season and Fulham’s fourth just four minutes later, profiting from Mitrovic’s quick thinking before hammering into the left corner.

A brutal evening for Rovers got worse as Kebano fortuitously notched his third of the campaign with a deflected 79th-minute strike and two minutes later, his inviting cross found Muniz who prodded home for Fulham’s sixth.

Muniz put Fulham in seventh heaven in the 91st minute, powering home a near-post header from Antonee Robinson’s cross as Fulham sent out an ominous statement to the league and capped off a chastening night for the hosts.