A drab first half at the Stadium of Light made way for a frantic second period in which all four goals were scored.

Jimenez opened the scoring in the 54th minute, heading home from Alex Iwobi's corner.

The Mexican doubled his tally seven minutes later, converting from the penalty spot after Brian Brobbey tugged Calvin Bassey's shirt.

Enzo Le Fee's spot-kick set up a grandstand finale, but Harry Wilson charged forward to tee up Iwobi, who capped off a fine performance with a cute finish.

Fulham moved into the top half, while Sunderland, at least able to welcome Granit Xhaka back from injury, has now lost three straight league games.

Iwobi has been playing deeper in midfield as of late, allowing him to pull the strings for Fulham, and he certainly did that.

The Nigeria international created a game-high three chances to go with his goal.

His strike, meanwhile, was teed up by Wilson. Since the start of November, only Erling Haaland (17) and Bruno Fernandes (15) have been involved in more Premier League goals than the Wales international (12 – seven goals, five assists).

The match statistics show it was tight, though. Fulham created chances worth 1.87 expected goals to Sunderland's 1.82, with both teams having 12 attempts, suggesting the Cottagers were just that bit more clinical.