Burnley suffered the ignominy of conceding directly from a corner last weekend against Newcastle, and the opening 10 minutes saw them undone from a corner yet again.
It wasn’t quite as embarrassing this time as Harry Wilson’s delivery didn’t go straight into the back of the net, but his low delivery bamboozled the Clarets defence, and Emile Smith-Rowe had the simplest of tasks to tap in from inside the six-yard box.
Heads didn’t particularly drop at that point for Burnley, who should’ve equalised straight from the restart when Lesley Ugochukwu broke into the box but could only fire an effort against the legs of Bernd Leno.
Recruited from Fulham’s West London rivals Chelsea in the summer, Ugochukwu wasn’t deterred and was soon sent clear on Leno’s goal again when Josh Cullen released him, and this time his trickled effort found the bottom corner.
It only proved to be a temporary reprieve for the hosts, who soon found themselves behind for the second time of the evening.
Once more, it was a corner that yielded the goal as, after Wilson’s initial delivery was cleared, the ball found its way back to him, and he teed up the unmarked Calvin Bassey six yards out, who restored Fulham’s lead.
With potentially only 45 minutes left to save his job, Parker’s team talk was huge in the context of both his and Burnley’s season.
A loose Smith-Rowe pass almost served as an early Christmas gift for the Clarets when it played Jacob Bruun Larsen clean through on goal, but his effort was smothered by Leno.
It proved to be a costly miss for Parker’s side, who found themselves two goals behind just minutes later when Wilson contributed to his third goal of the evening when he stepped in off the right and bent an effort into the far corner.
Parker made some desperate changes in an attempt to get his side back into the game, and although most could be deemed attacking, none of them had any impact on how toothless the Clarets looked.
The boos that greeted the third goal were again audible at full-time as Parker’s position now appears untenable moving forward, as not even Oliver Sonne’s late consolation could prevent yet another limp home defeat.
Fulham were in no mood to dish out any sympathy, and the three points they take back to London give them some extra breathing space from the drop zone.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Harry Wilson (Fulham)