There is definite buoyancy amongst the Fulham fanbase this week. The Whites ground out a dogged victory at Hull City last weekend – preserving their six-point cushion at the top of the table – to extend their unbeaten league run to seven and QPR’s non-performance at Millwall on Tuesday only added to the levity. Some supporters have started speculating about when Marco Silva’s side might secure promotion or lift the Championship title, but they would be well advised to remember that Fulham’s periods of serene progress this season have been followed by a sticky spell – and that Malcolm McDonald’s homegrown side held a seven point lead over Leicester, with a game in hand, in mid-March and still failed to reach the promised land.
Silva’s steady-as-she-goes mantra will no doubt be repeated during tomorrow’s pre-match press conference. The players all attested to the importance of taking it a game at a time after the narrow win on Humberside, especially given that Bournemouth had come back from the dead to win at Blackpool. There’s plenty of football to be played and the history of London’s oldest professional club contains plenty of warnings not to tempt fate. Chief amongst them all is the fact that Huddersfield will arrive at Craven Cottage for Saturday lunchtime’s kick off unbeaten in fourteen games and looking an altogether different side to the one humbled at the John Smith’s Stadium back in August.
Carlos Corberan’s transformation of a team that looked completely devoid of confidence at the start of the campaign is one of the underwritten stories in the second tier. Retaining the likes of brilliant Lewis O’Brien, Harry Toffolo and Josh Koroma has proven critical, whilst the emergence of Sorba Thomas has added both excitement and adventure. Danny Ward’s presence as the focal point of the attack is critical to Huddersfield’s success, whilst Corberan’s principles of playing football from the back, pressing relentlessly out of possession and working the ball out to marauding wide players is strikingly similar to Silva’s method. The Terriers are now more attuned to the game plan and not ravaged by injuries and suspensions as they were when the Whites ran riot.
Fulham have plenty of off days at Craven Cottage this season. They were rumbled by Reading in a result that looks even more horrendous with the passage of time, shut down by a determined Derby and surprised by Sheffield United, when the tremendously talented Iliman Ndiaye was inexplicably allowed to travel from inside his own half into shooting range. A six point lead is far from impregnable and Huddersfield will have their own ideas about exploiting Silva’s ultra-attacking approach. The Whites will need to be focused from the first whistle and play at a tempo that can test even the most disciplined of defences. This is by no means a foregone conclusion.
