It still feels refreshing to be preparing for a second successive season in the Premier League as a Fulham fan. Marco Silva, set for another return to the club that sacked him in 2019, is a genius for many reasons – but certainly for ending the yo-yo cycle that had made the Whites a figure of fun across what passes for football punditry these days. Silva’s steadfast commitment to continuing his Craven Cottage project, despite bundles of Saudi cash and the failure of the club’s hierarchy to capitalise on the momentum of last season’s tenth place finish, has been the biggest plus point of a disconcerting summer – but it is almost time for all the talking to stop, allowing the football to finally take centre stage.

Fulham are taking a step somewhat into the unknown. Second season syndrome might statistically be a red herring, but there are legitimate worries about whether the Cottagers can replicate their stunning success of last term. For one thing, the rest of the Premier League won’t be quite as blasé about facing the Whites this time around. You can bet they’ll be primed on what the west Londoners do well. Perhaps the most concerning element of Fulham’s summer shenanigans is that the squad remains short of bodies. The club’s only two senior acquisitions, Calvin Bassey and Raul Jimenez, will add quality at either end of the pitch but they arrived within days of Silva’s face-to-face talks with Shad Khan during the Summer Series and progress on adding further reinforcements has been glacially slow.

This matters simply because Fulham are counting on senior players to step up to the mark again this term – and some of them aren’t getting any younger. Key fixtures in the side that surprised everyone after that brilliant promotion season are doubts for the trip to Goodison Park due to injuries and fitness concerns. Joao Palhinha is definitely out, a consequence of the shoulder injury suffered against Brentford in America – although Silva expressed greater confidence that his compatriot might be available for the home clash against the buzzing Bees next weekend. Fulham will also carry out fitness checks on Ream, Tom Cairney and Andreas Pereira.

Silva’s also got at least one selection dilemma to ponder this evening. Raul Jimenez poached a particularly good opening goal against Hoffenheim last week, but once he was withdrawn it was Aleksandar Mitrovic’s turn to steal the headlines. The Serbian striker’s interest in a move to Saudi Arabia might have been genuine and it certainly felt disorientating for a couple of weeks, but Silva has used his own experience as one of the head coaches that the PIF-backed Saudi Pro League sides have coveted to reintegrate our talisman into the first team squad. Nobody who watched him change the intensity of what was a sleepy friendly single handedly will doubt Mitrovic’s commitment to the cause, but is he ready for the intensity of 90 Premier League minutes?

It is also difficult to know what to expect from Everton, whose transfer activity since Sean Dyche steered the Toffees to safety has seen them offer another top flight opportunity to the veteran Ashley Young and sign 19 year-old Sporting striker Youssef Chermiti today. Our hosts tomorrow are struggling through one of the division’s worst injury crisis which has robbed them of Dele Alli, Seamus Coleman and Dwight McNeil for the opening game of the season. Former Brentford centre back James Tarkowski is fit, but optimism levels are not high in the blue half of Merseyside to say the least.

That means Fulham can travel north with genuine aspirations of registering a third consecutive win at Goodison Park, which seems scarcely believable given Everton’s stranglehold on this fixture over the last three decades. But the opening weekend is notoriously difficult to predict and the Whites never make it easy – even what became a very comfortable victory over the Toffees in April had a few twitchy moments, so buckle up and enjoy the start of another special adventure.

MY FULHAM XI (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete, A. Robinson, Diop, Ream; Reed, Lukic; Wilson, Willian, Pereira; Mitrovic. Subs: Rodak, Mbabu, Bassey, Cairney, Harris, Decordova-Reid, Stansfield, Vinicius, Jimenez.