Fulham head into their final fixture of the season – against Champions’ League chasing Manchester City – in finer fettle that anticipated after another stunning second half fightback to beat Brentford. The Whites’ first win in Hounslow since 2017 was delivered by the impact of three Marco Silva substitutes. Harry Wilson might have scored another sensational winner, but the introduction of Tom Cairney and Josh King helped tilt the game in Fulham’s favour – with the skipper soaring to glance home a headed equaliser and teenager King playing a large part in both goals. Welshman Wilson has seen his Craven Cottage contract extended for another year but there is uncertainty about the future of both Cairney, who could play his final game in a Fulham shirt this afternoon, and King, who has yet to sign a new deal himself.

Silva clarified the current position regarding his own future plans during a much more newsy pre-match press conference than usual on Friday. The Portuguese head coach insisted that stories suggesting he had rejected Fulham’s offer of a new deal were inaccurate – indeed, he hasn’t sat down with Alistair Mackintosh to discuss extending his contract as he wanted to concentrate on remaining matches and allow the club to conclude negotiations with their playing personnel. Silva has made it plain that he wants Cairney, Kenny Tete and King to stay – but that the Whites will be saying goodbye to Willian and Carlos Vinicius during the lap of appreciation this afternoon.

It could be an emotional day down at the Cottage. Cairney’s contribution to the club’s fortunes over the last ten years can’t be summarised in mere words or memories and his value on the pitch was epitomised by the way he sparked the sort of comeback that the Cottagers have failed to deliver in the closing weeks of the campaign (Southampton aside). The peerless playmaker has been there, seen it and done it in a white shirt and his experience as a senior member of a tight-knit dressing room remains crucial, especially in another summer of transition. He might not be the number ten that most media eyes will be on as Kevin de Bruyne takes his leave after being surprisingly sacrificed by the powers that be at Manchester City, but every Fulham fan can chart the club’s fortunes through a Cairney calendar (his arrival for a mere £2.5m from Blackburn Rovers, the wonderful winner at Wembley followed by the yo-yoing between the top tiers before promotion under Silva and proving he could still play at the highest level).

There will be lingering frustration among the Cottage faithful that this game is essentially a quest for precious Premier League prize money when a few more victories (either at home throughout the season or over the last few weeks) could have delivered European football and definitive progress for Silva. But the former Hull, Everton and Watford boss has made a small and unbalanced squad more than competitive for a third successive season and they will go toe-to-toe with a team who they should have beaten at Eastlands in the reverse fixture. City still need a point to make sure of qualifying for the Champions’ League – the bare minimum after a first trophyless season in eight years – and Pep Guardiola, unbeaten in fourteen fixtures against Silva, still has plenty of firepower at his disposal.

City might have lost sixteen games across all competitions this campaign but they could still end the season on a ten-match Premier League unbeaten run and the emergence of twenty year-old Nico O’Reilly as a dependable goalscorer in midfield shows that the academy that nurtured the talent of Phil Foden is still churning out gems. Egyptian forward Omar Marmoush has enjoyed an electric start since moving to England from Eintracht Frankfurt in January, scoring eight goals in 21 games, whilst the pace and power of Jeremy Doku totally transformed the meeting at the Etihad that slipped away from Fulham in the second half earlier this season.

To end English football’s longest run of defeats against one opponent (seventeen in total now), Fulham will need to start the way they finished at Brentford last Sunday. City might well be without the classy John Stones and a suspended Mateo Kovacic, with Rodri unlikely to start as he recovers from that untimely ACL injury, but the Whites should be a wary of a wounded beast. Guardiola is smarting after the suffering his expensively-assembled side have been through this season – not least being beaten at Wembley by Crystal Palace, even if Sunday’s referee somehow failed to dismiss Dean Henderson for denying a goalscoring opportunity.

Silva’s final selection of the season will be interesting. The temptation to shoehorn King, Cairney and Wilson into the same starting eleven after they won the west London derby will be strong – and the Whites will also be eager to finish on a high as Stuart Gray’s decade in the dugout comes to an end. The Fulham first team coach has been a constant throughout managerial changes, relegations and promotions and replacing him will prove one of the most important moves Silva has to make over the summer. He deserves to head into a retirement with a rapturous reception of his own on what might prove an afternoon of tearful farewells.

MY FULHAM XI (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete, Sessegnon, Andersen, Bassey; Lukic, Cairney; Wilson, Traore, Smith Rowe; Jimenez. Subs: Benda, Cuenca, Berge, Pereira, Willian, Iwobi, King, Godo, Vinicius.