Back in the Big Time
Almost a full year after it was officially relegated from the Premier League, Fulham Football Club returns to the top flight of English football after a 3-0 win over Preston North End. Under Portuguese manager Marco Silva, the Cottagers netted a jaw-dropping 98 goals in the Championship so far en route to being automatically promoted with four matches left in the season. The prolific offensive attack led by Aleksandar MitroviΔ is the first team to score 96 or more goals in a single season in the Championship since the 2014-2015 AFC Bournemouth team led by Eddie Howe and the lethal goal-scoring threat of Callum Wilson.
C/O: Reuters
This is now the fifth season in a row that Fulham has been relegated to the Championship but then the following season found a way to get promotion back to the Premier League. The Cottagers have not been in the top-flight in back-to-back seasons for nine years. Silva and the rest of the Fulham team are determined to change the narrative of this team slowly becoming a see-saw club.
Following the decisive win to clinch their spot in the top-flight, manager Marco Silva stated, "The feeling is fantastic...To start, congratulations to the players. Iβm really proud of them, they deserve it. Itβs a fantastic achievement for us. It was our aim from the first day. To get direct promotion with four games to play is a fantastic achievement for us, but one thing that makes me even prouder of these players is the way we did it...We were so dominant almost all season: the way we played, the way we performed; the way we developed players and gave the chance to some young players to perform and got the best out of others. Itβs been fantastic and Iβm proud of the players and all of my staff. Everyone around me, in the club, medical staff, the kit men, people from the gate at the training ground, and the kitchen. They always do their best to give the players the best conditions to play at our level."
This Fulham team has been led by the leading scorer in the Championship Aleksandar Mitrovic and 19-year-old and potentially the newest addition to Liverpool's loaded roster, FΓ‘bio Carvalho. Mitrovic has played in 40 matches this season and has netted a mind-boggling 40 goals. A few weeks ago, Mitrovic broke the record for most goals scored in a single Championship season with two against Peterborough, passing Brentford star Ivan Toney who broke Glenn Murray's record last season.
Three absolutely sublime team goals against Preston not only clinched promotion for the club, but it was also a microcosm of the season as a whole. Last season in the top-flight, Fulham had no real problem preventing goals, it rather had a massive issue in scoring them. This season is the opposition. Fulham has ripped through defenses like a chain-saw in the Championship with its unmatched quality and finishing ability that almost nobody else in the second-tier of English football possesses.
Even though Carvalho will be making his way to Merseyside during the summer, the mark that he made at Craven Cottage will be remembered forever. He could slide right into the Liverpool midfield just like Luis Diaz did in the attack this season, and make a game-changing difference. His speed, agility, and vision with the ball at his feet led him to put together a season with nine goals to go along with seven assists.
Fulham is the only team in the Championship that has four players that have scored nine goals or more this season. After a solid season on loan at Cardiff City, the Liverpool product Harry Wilson showed out in the middle of the park for the Cottagers this season. This is the Welsh international's seventh loan from his parent club in Liverpool. At 25 years old, there may not be much appeal for the Reds to keep him in a squad that is already stacked in the position he plays. Wilson has such a smooth and delicate way of playing the game of football that is truly a magical thing to watch. His vision to find Mitrovic, or even the Jamaican Bobby De Cordova-Reid who is quietly having a great season for himself is one of the main reasons why this team continues to unlock defenses at an elite level.
C/O: Andrew Matthews/PA Images/Imago Images
From scoring 19 goals in three straight matches to only not scoring a goal in four matches in the league this season, Fulham looks ready to take on the Premier League, but in reality, there is still a lot of work to be done. Last season the backline led by American Tim Ream was exposed most of the time by some of the most dangerous attacks in the world. With Wilson officially signing with the squad from Liverpool, Fulham will have a more stable midfield along with Tom Cairney, and Neeskens Kebano who has finally found the best form of his career in his sixth year at the club.
Trying to convince Liverpool to sell one of its most prized youngsters, Neco Williams, to the Cottagers is going to be key if this team wants to bring its success this season into the next. Williams on the flank of the defense provides so much versatility, and athleticism that Fulham would need to be able to stay with some of the wingers the Premier League has to offer. Antonee Robinson, Ream, and Tosin Adarabioyo are nice pieces to have, but to succeed in the top-flight the club needs players that can not only defend but influence the attack. One of the reasons why this Fulham team did not succeed in the Premier League last time out was due to the lack of creativity in the back as a whole. If Williams can find his way back into this Fulham side for the 2022-2023 season, he could raise the ceiling of what this club can do.
Silva and the Cottagers will be going from feeling like they are on the top of the world to potentially fighting for their lives in the span of just a few months. The goal-scoring juggernaut of Fulham is going to have to be ready for a rude awakening with the potential of losing Carvalho. While there will be bumps in the road next season for the Cottagers, this team is more ready to succeed than the ones of the recent past that were promoted back to the top flight. The combination of experience, and youth has made Fulham one of the best stories in English football this season, but its fans and the world around it will be wondering, what is the encore?
