Fulham’s push for a European place appeared to the hit buffers at Villa Park last weekend. The Whites looked leggy after a long season and conceding another set-piece goal early in a must-win match didn’t help matters. Marco Silva’s side were far from their best but they might have got something on another day, even if they didn’t lay siege to the Villa goal until the closing stages. Ryan Sessegnon reflected earlier this week on how unfortunate it was that his superb strike midway through the second half was disallowed, whilst a fitter Harry Wilson would probably have tucked away either of the chances that came his way. File it in the Bournemouth away category as another game that got away.
The rest of the results didn’t fall kindly, but there is still belief in the camp. Silva, who delivered a serious shot in the arm yesterday by dismissing the persistent speculation that he could end up in Saudi Arabia or at Spurs rather than in SW6 come the start of next season, insisted his players can reach their twin targets of qualifying for the Conference League and beating the club’s best ever top-flight points tally. A win against Everton, one of his former employers, will do the latter this afternoon but the Toffees look totally transformed under David Moyes – even if they have won just one of their last ten league matches.
The visitors will be boosted by the return of Abdoulaye Doucoure, who missed the disappointing draw with Ipswich Town at Goodison Park through personal reasons, whilst the dangerous Dominic Calvert-Lewin might lead the line, with his future up in the air. The dangerous Dwight McNeil – a regular thorn in Fulham’s side from his Burnley days – will need to be shackled, whilst Jack Harrison, who might also be playing for his Everton future, could also cause problems for a Fulham defence that has been anything but miserly in recent weeks.
Silva, whose sacking after his Everton side were hammered in the 2019 Merseyside derby still rankles, will have to do some mixing and matching with his squad. Timothy Castagne has battled through the pain of torn ankle ligaments since being asked to deputise for Kenny Tete at right back but with the Dutch defender back to full fitness, the brave Belgian international has now had some much needed surgery. The loss of Sasa Lukic – certainly one of the players of the season – is a serious blow, although the club’s medical department is hopeful that the Serbian midfielder will be back in the engine room for the trip to Hounslow next weekend. Harrison Reed’s race looks run for this term after the calf complaint that cut short his substitutes’ appearance at Villa, whilst Reiss Nelson has been a long-term absentee.
Silva spoke in glowing terms about some of the youngsters at his disposal, including PL2 player of the season nominee Callum Osmand who could feature on the bench with Rodrigo Muniz’s achilles likely to end his campaign. The likes of Martial Godo and Josh King could come back into the reckoning with their under-21 commitments completed for the year, but there is no doubting the need for a summer shake-up with the first-team squad looking somewhat thin. Fulham could certainly do with a few more bodies and there can be no getting away from the fact that Silva has performed something close to magic to keep this squad in contention for European competition for so long.
How he might reshape his side given those injury absentees is a really intriguing question. You would hope that Antonee Robinson might be a little fitter having looked well off the pace last Saturday and the American international might be motivated to show the Toffees what they missed out on after Silva released him from Goodison Park. He could shunt another ex-Evertonian, in Nigerian international Alex Iwobi into central midfield, to make room for Emile Smith Rowe in the number ten role. The pair linked up superbly for Fulham’s goal in the reverse fixture – even if our last-ever visit to Goodison was another trip where the Whites somehow sacrificed three points in stoppage time.
Fulham have been frustratingly passive in recent weeks, especially when you consider the prize that was on offer. Raul Jimenez will need to lead the line again and, whilst the goals might have dried up for our Mexican veteran, I thought the former Wolves forward toiled manfully in a losing cause last week. The 34 year-old needs runners to join him in the final third and you wonder if the energy of Andreas Pereira, who will be available for selection this week, could make Fulham’s probing – and sometimes pedestrian – possession-based approach a little less predictable. Wilson and Sessegnon looked like the Whites best source of a goal last weekend and it was surprising to see the latter hooked so soon after almost coming up with an equaliser.
Everton have lost just twice in their last ten visits to Craven Cottage and Moyes, criminally underappreciated despite winning a European trophy as recently as a couple of seasons ago with West Ham, has certainly made them much tougher to play through than during Frank Lampard’s forgettable tenure. The wily Scot has won twenty of his forty matches against Fulham and will have a template to prevent the hosts from playing today. The six defeats in Fulham’s last ten Premier League matches – as many as in the Whites’ 25 – are likely to look costly come the final reckoning but getting back to winning ways in the style that Silva has imbued into this side would be a welcome tonic.
MY FULHAM XI (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete, A. Robinson, Diop, Bassey; Berge, Pereira; Wilson, R. Sessegnon, Iwobi; Jimenez. Subs: Benda, Cuenca, Andersen, Cairney, King, Willian, Traore, Smith Rowe, Osmand.
