Birmingham had been battered 6-2 and but nonetheless got here away feeling like they'd acquired off calmly.
For the third time in seven days, Fulham had been in that ruthless type of temper the place any variety of objectives appeared doable.
After seven at Studying, six towards Bristol Metropolis, and 6 once more right here. In fact, that was greater than ample to take them 5 factors clear on the prime of the Championship.
After a Marc Roberts personal objective set them on their means, strikes from Neeskens Kebano, Fabio Carvalho and Tom Cairney settled it earlier than half-time. Carvalho scored a late fifth after Birmingham had replied twice earlier than Antonee Robinson rounded it off.
In order that's the 19 objectives in 270 minutes of soccer. All in all, that may be classed as a passable week for Marco Silva and his crew.
After a sticky patch in December, Fulham have roared again to their greatest and have once more pulled away from Bournemouth and Blackburn on the prime. Proceed on this wealthy vein they usually'll be strolling again to the massive time.
As subsequent occasions would reiterate, Fulham are greater than able to scoring objectives with out being given a serving to hand.
Seven nights in the past at Studying they had been gifted the primary of seven objectives by a dreadful backpass by Josh Laurent. This time, Birmingham supplied up an personal objective, albeit an unfortunate one.
Simply 10 minutes had elapsed and the guests had appeared genuinely threatening however when Cairney performed a go that deflected off Carvalho and into the trail of Harry Wilson, Birmingham had been in all types of hassle.
Wilson's low cross would certainly have been turned in by the prowling Aleksandar Mitrovic however Roberts utilized the end for him as he slid in on the close to publish to try to intercept the cross.
The early objective gave Fulham a superb quantity of management however we had the absurd scenario of them reaching the half hour with out really having a shot of their very own.
That was quickly rectified as they rattled in three objectives in an eight minute spell that Birmingham could have nightmares about for a lot of months to return.
The second was just like the primary. Tosin Adarabioyo discovered Wilson with a ball from the again and the underlapping run of Denis Odoi was picked out.
His cross was agency and low, excellent for Kebano to steal in behind and slam his shot excessive into the online.
Two grew to become three in what appeared like a heartbeat because the dam burst. The build-up this time was on the left aspect, with Kebano ready patiently for Robinson's overlap earlier than setting him free.
MATCH FACTS
Supervisor: Marco Silva
Booked: Reed
Supervisor: Lee Bowyer
Scorers: Sunjic 45; Gardner 74
Booked: Pedersen
Referee: Gavin Ward (Surrey)
Attendance: 16,491
Robinson's cross was met with essentially the most achieved glancing header by Carvalho, definitely not unhealthy for a 19-year-old and one other indicator of why he's rated so extremely at Craven Cottage and past.
Chants of 'we want seven' echoed across the wood seats of the Johnny Haynes Stand. The gamers appeared to take up the problem and nearly did it.
The fourth got here a few minutes earlier than half-time with Fulham merely toying with the Birmingham defence. They labored the ball from the left to the best and again once more.
Wilson drove throughout the sting of the field in search of a capturing angle, gave up and handed to Kebano. He moved it on to Cairney who swept a left-footed shot into the underside nook.
Irony of ironies, the most effective objective of the first-half got here from Birmingham. In stoppage time, Ivan Sunjic collected a go infield from Jeremie Bela on the left, appeared up and curled residence an immaculate shot off the publish.
'We're gonna win five-four,' sang the away part, not afraid of some gallows humour.
So Fulham walked in for half-time having scored 17 objectives in 225 minutes of soccer, greater than bottom-placed Barnsley have managed all season.
Birmingham battened down the hatches for the second-half and issues calmed. Fulham appeared content material with their lot for a superb whereas.
Carvalho couldn't generate sufficient energy to beat Neil Etheridge after Wilson flicked the ball to him simply outdoors the field.
So might the guests make the competition a bit extra attention-grabbing? Sure, really. With 17 minutes left, Gardner drilled in Birmingham's second from Kristian Pedersen's go.
That was the footballing equal of prodding a hornet's nest. Fulham immediately broke ahead and Carvalho took a go from Bobby De Cordova Reid earlier than choosing out the underside nook.
The icing on the cake got here when Robinson fired residence left-footed with just about the final kick of the sport.
