Raul Jimenez's penalty late in the first half guided Fulham to a hard-fought 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest at Craven Cottage.

The final Premier League fixture before Christmas was mostly a low-key affair, with Jimenez's penalty – which came five minutes into first-half stoppage time – the first shot on target in the match.

Jimenez slotted his kick into the left side of the goal and sent John Victor the wrong way, after Douglas Luiz scythed Kevin down while on the ground inside the Forest area.

Forest had spurned one good chance early on, with Igor Jesus miscuing after Morgan Gibbs-White's clever outside-of-the-boot pass teed up Callum Hudson-Odoi to cross.

Sean Dyche's team also came on strong in the early stages of the second half, but Gibbs-White sent an overhead kick past the far post and dragged another effort wide before being substituted in the 73rd minute.

Fulham were quiet in attack for much of the second period, though Jimenez almost added a second goal with a glancing header following good work from Josh King and Kenny Tete.

But the hosts ultimately did not need to find the net again, as they moved five points clear of Forest in the table – Dyche's side remain five points clear of the bottom three.

Data Debrief: Jimenez matches Toure's perfect record

Fulham had to wait almost a year for a Premier League penalty, having not had a spot-kick in the competition since Jimenez converted two against Ipswich Town on January 5.

But for Jimenez, it was worth the wait. He has now scored all 11 of his Premier League penalties for Wolves and Fulham, tying Yaya Toure for the best 100% record in competition history.

Since the start of November, only Manchester City (21), Aston Villa (21) and Arsenal (17) have earned more points in the Premier League than Fulham (15).

They won the expected goals (xG) battle 1.5 to 0.6, though the majority of that came from the penalty, while Forest had 12 shots to the 11 attempted by the hosts.