THE Premier League title race may be all but sown up and the bottom three look set in stone barring a miracle but one club that still have it all to play for are Marco Silva’s Fulham.
They sit in eighth position in the Premier League table on 45 points, are firmly in the hunt for European football, sitting three points off Manchester City in fifth and four points off Chelsea in fourth and have the small matter of an FA Cup quarter-final against Crystal Palace this weekend. This could well prove to be a season to remember for Fulham fans.
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It’s been a superb campaign thus far for Marco Silva’s men, winning 12 of their 29 Premier League matches, drawing nine and losing just eight, with only Liverpool (1), Arsenal (3), Nottingham Forest (7) and Brighton (6) losing fewer matches than the Cottagers this season.
Fulham’s 45 points from their first 29 matches is not only their best return at this stage of a Premier League season, but their best return ever at this stage of a top-flight league campaign, pipping the 44 points picked up at this stage in 1959-60*. *adjusted for 3pts/win
Marco Silva’s remarkable impact at the club has been undeniable, from overseeing promotion from the Championship in 2021/22, to establishing Fulham as a solid Premier League outfit who he has equipped to battle in the top half of the table. Three of Fulham’s top seven points totals at this stage of a top-flight season have came under the Portuguese coach.
In the Premier League era, the Cottagers highest points total is 53 points, achieved by Roy Hodgson in 2008-09, a season in which Fulham finished seventh, which is also their highest ever Premier League finish.
In order to match Hodgson’s record points total, Fulham would need to pick up just eight points from their last nine league matches. Marco Silva’s side are averaging 1.55 points per game this season, so if they continued this points-per-game average until the end of the current campaign, they would amass another 14 points, taking their overall tally to 59 – a total which would surpass their previous best by six points.
Fulham’s current tally of 45 points would be enough to rank this season as Fulham’s 10th-best points haul in a Premier League season and is only two points shy of the 47 Marco Silva managed in the competition last season, despite still having nine games left to play.
The Premier League are almost certain to have five teams competing in the UEFA Champions League next season, meaning the team who finish sixth would qualify directly for the league phase of the UEFA Europa League with no need for qualifying rounds, whilst the FA Cup winners (a competition Fulham are still involved in) are also granted a spot in the league phase of the UEFA Europa League. If there was ever a season that Fulham could seal a return to playing under the bright lights in Europe, it’s this season.
Their last participation in any major European competition came back in 2011/12, when they competed in the UEFA Europa League, going out at the group stage after finishing third.
Marco Silva is a manager that certainly has European pedigree, having managed 26 matches (incl. qualifiers) across UEFA competitions at the helm of the likes of Sporting CP, Olympiacos and Estoril and with next season marking 10 years since his last participation in European competition (UEFA Champions League with Olympiacos – 2015/16), the Portuguese coach will be chomping at the bit to get both himself and Fulham back playing European football.
Whilst their league campaign is going swimmingly, there is also the small matter of an FA Cup quarter-final this weekend against Crystal Palace at Craven Cottage and the chance to progress to the semi-final of the FA Cup for the first time since April 2002 – where they lost 0-1 to Chelsea under Jean Tigana.
Their clash with Crystal Palace will be their fifth quarter-final since making it past this stage in 2001/02, with the Cottagers failing to progress from any of their previous four, most recently going out at this stage in 2022/23, losing 1-3 to Manchester United.
This season in the FA Cup though, feels somewhat different. Just like the European race in the Premier League, if there was ever a season for an underdog to achieve glory, it’s this one.
The quarter-finals are made up of Fulham, Crystal Palace, Preston, Bournemouth, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Brighton and Manchester City.
Now, whilst Manchester City remain favourites, there is no getting around the fact that the top five teams with the most FA Cup trophies under their belt (Arsenal 14, Manchester United 13, Chelsea 8, Liverpool 8 and Tottenham Hotspur 8) have all been eliminated from the competition. Fulham on the other hand, have never won the FA Cup, losing their only final in the competition 0-2 to West Ham United in May 1975.
The match against Crystal Palace won’t be a walk in the park however, whilst The Cottagers have lost just one of their last seven matches against Crystal Palace across all competitions, they have won just two of those matches themselves, with four of those seven meetings ending in a draw and could make for a very tight affair.
Should Marco Silva’s side progress past Crystal Palace then a Wembley semi-final awaits and Fulham supporters can really start dreaming.
Whether it be in the cup or the Premier League, Fulham fans have every reason to be excited as we enter the home stretch of the 2024/25 campaign.
🡡 28/03/2025 at 00.01 – 31/03/2025 at 23.59
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