Nottingham Forest v Fulham

OPPOSITION OVERVIEW
FULHAM
Head coach: Marco Silva | Stadium: Craven Cottage | Capacity: 19,359
The last couple of seasons
have been a rollercoaster
ride for Fulham; up and
down, up and down. They
were promoted to the
Premier League in 2018,
relegated a season later,
back up in 2020 via the
play-offs, and back down
last season.
Fulham enjoyed some good
moments last season – including
a memorable win over Liverpool
at Anfield – but they did not come
often enough and therefore The
Cottagers lost their place in topflight.
Scott Parker left the club
in the summer, to be replaced by
Portuguese coach Marco Silva.
So far, it has proved to be a
successful appointment. The
44-year-old Lisbon-born manager
knows the English game well.
After managing Estoril and
Sporting CP in his home country,
Mr Marinakis appointed Silva as
head coach of Olympiacos. He then
took charge of Hull City in January
2017 but could not save them from
relegation from the top tier and left
at the end of the season.
Shortly afterwards, he joined
Watford and steered them to the
to top half of the Premier League
but left in January 2018 and joined
Everton that summer.
Silva was the manager of
Everton for one and half-seasons.
In his first full season, the team
finished a creditable eighth in the
Premier League but he was sacked in
December of 2019 after a poor
run of form.
Last summer Silva signed a
three-year contract with Fulham,
continuing his journey in England. In
an interview with The Guardian last
August, he said: “We need to try and
get off this rollercoaster that we’re
on. We need to break that cycle. “
The coach wants the rollercoaster
to go up and stay that way. For now,
Fulham are focusing on achieving
promotion. So far, so good. The
Cottagers started their season by
winning four of their first five games.
Since that excellent start, there have
been highs and lows.
Ahead of Wednesday‘s home
match versus Cardiff, Silva‘s
men had collected eight points
from a possible 15 over their last
five matches.
Sat in third and only two points
behind West Brom before the
midweek round of fixtures, Fulham
are firmly in the promotion reckoning
again. There is still a long way to go
and a lot of football to be played. Will
the rollercoaster go up this season?
Time will tell but few would bet
against Fulham being around the top
places in the division all season.
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