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Your Fulham season preview is here: can the good times continue on from last season at Craven Cottage?
FourFourTwo's Fulham season preview
FFT's view
The Plan
Fulham posted a club-record 54 Premier League points last season, and still they need to push on. Big-money buy Emile Smith Rowe displayed glimpses (six goals, three assists), but expectations are for the Arsenal academy graduate to run games and dictate the tempo.
LAST SEASON
PREMIER LEAGUE 11th
FA CUP Quarter-final
LEAGUE CUP Third Round
TOP SCORER (ALL COMPS) Raul Jimenez (14)
Watching Crystal Palace, Newcastle and Spurs end their trophy droughts has Fulham fans dreaming of the same, as well as a top-half league finish. While only Liverpool took more points off the top 10 than Fulham (30), the west Londoners are too predictable facing bottom-half teams and had the leagues fourth-worst record against them. New blood is essential for an ageing squad.
The Coach
Silva by name, gold by nature: Marco Silva is Fulhams most successful manager in over a decade, turning a yo-yo team into an established Premier League side. As the 48-year-old enters the final year of his contract, the club must ensure their ambition matches his.
Key Player
Silva loves versatility and Alex Iwobi embodies that criteria, as a scorer and assister of goals (a combined 15 last term) and equally effective on the left, right or through the centre. Now a senior star at 29, the Nigerian also needs to step up and become a leader.
Lesson From Last Year
Take the lead, keep the lead. The Cottagers gave up 28 points from winning positions only Spurs lost more while a tendency to drop off after Christmas has recently crept in. Last season, they lost four league games before the turn of the year, then 10 afterwards.
FFT'S SEASON PREVIEW
This preview originally appeared in FourFourTwo's Season Preview issue which went on sale in July, available here with free delivery
Strength in depth is essential at full-back, especially where Silva demands an overlap. When right-back Kenny Tete pulled up in December, it left Timothy Castagne to play through injury every week. Antonee Robinson, the perennially in-demand left-back, posted 10 assists more than any other defender but then faded and needed summer surgery. His verve is always vital.
The Mood
A feeling of what might have been lingers. For the third season in a row, Fulham were one game from Wembley yet failed to get there, while watching a top-half finish or even Europe slip away.
The One To Watch
Josh King, 18. The midfielder made his Premier League debut last term and showed plenty of potential in cameo outings. Huw Jennings latest Motspur Park gem has captained England U18s.
Most Likely To
Say something that shows how out of touch he is with the fans: Alistair Mackintosh, Fulhams chief executive. His comments on the new Riverside Stand left many supporters irked. At other clubs you hear the c-word here the c-words are champagne and caviar, he quipped.
ODDS
TITLE ODDS 500/1
Least Likely To
Ever have to buy a jar of honey: Harry the Beekeeper Wilson. Scorer of home-and-away winners against Brentford, the Welsh schemer haunts fans in TW8 but will forever be serenaded in SW6: Who put the ball in the Brentford net? Harry f**king Wilson.
FFT Verdict
12TH Silva needs assurances from above and more from Smith Rowe, plus a new striker, for Fulham to rise.
The Number Cruncher
The Fan View
After plenty to cheer last season and with plenty to improve this season, FourFourTwo gets the view from the stands from Jack Stroudley
Last season was a mixed bag. We broke our record points tally and spent a lot of the season flirting with the European places, only to fall away. Our end-of-season form needs work, as does our big-game mentality.
I wont be happy unless we improve squad depth. Shahid Khan: get the chequebook out.
Our key player will be Rodrigo Muniz. After 18 months, and with Raul Jimenez getting on, there is more onus on him to progress and contribute.
The pantomime villain will be Fabio Carvalho. He effectively begged to leave, and ended up at our noisy neighbours.
The opposition player Id love here is Leon Bailey. Its realistic: we need wide options and Aston Villa want to sell. Get it done.
Im least looking forward to playing Manchester City. They always beat us, regardless of form, and usually get a soft penalty.
A social media account to follow is @jackellyffc, a fantastic independent Fulham journalist.
Our most underrated player is Sasa Lukic, filling a Joao Palhinha-shaped hole next to Rolls-Royce midfielder Sander Berge. Palhinhas already out of favour at Bayern Munich can we have him back...?
Im most looking forward to visiting the Stadium of Light. Ive never been.
Fans think our gaffer has transformed the club.
If he left, he should be replaced by Fulham fan Liam Rosenior, impressive at Hull and Strasbourg.
Well finish 11th, again wondering, What if...?
This preview originally appeared in FourFourTwo's Season Preview issue which went on sale in July, available here with free delivery
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