Fulham vs. Leicester

Monday at 3 p.m. at the Cottage.
We should win this one.
Is Mitro back yet? I’ve lost track.
Even without him, we still should win this one.

 

I hope you're right. Leicester is trying to avoid relegation, so they'll presumably be fired up.

 

I took the day off so I hope to be entertained. I have to go to DMV afterwards so it should at least be better than that.

 

This is the last game of Mitrovic's suspension. He'll be available against Southampton on Saturday.

When the season was about halfway through I thought for sure Fulham would surpass the 52 points achieved by the 2011-12 Fulham squad. Sadly, I think that may have slipped out of reach now. To get 53 points, Fulham will need to win three of the final four matches or win two and draw two. The other goal I thought Fulham might be able to achieve would be to claim the title of best team in West London. Unfortunately, Brentford's form is going to make that difficult, especially if they get any points from their final 3 to add to their current 50 point total. Which leaves one stretch goal still relatively achievable - to finish above Chelsea. Chelsea's last four matches are against Forest, the teams from Manchester, and Newcastle. With that run-in I think Fulham has a shot at topping Chelsea.

Whatever goal you have in mind for Fulham it probably needs a win against Leicester! Fulham doesn't have much meaningful to play for since the primary goal of survival was achieved weeks ago and European play quickly fell out of reach over the past month. Yet Silva has still managed to get two good performances out of Fulham against Liverpool and City. Sadly the effort didn't turn into points. Fulham will face a Leicester team that hasn't lost in Dean Smith's three games in charge, but still find themselves outside the relegation zone only because of goal differential so they will see this as a must-win. Leicester haven't kept a clean sheet since November 2022, so that means two possible outcomes: Leicester shuts out Fulham to get a 0-1 win OR Vinicius bags a hat trick and becomes Fulham's #2 scorer for the season in route to a 5-0 win.

 

Monday games are always at Noon left coast time…but not today. Literally just saw that the match started at 7 am out here…I missed a lot apparently

 

@SoCalJoe the bank holiday over there turned the normal schedule upside down. I was also confused because a 3pm start time would by typical for Eastern time, but that was London time!

The crazy highlights!


Fulham had no business scoring 5 today, the first time this season Fulham put in more than three! There was just some terrible goal keeping on a couple of those shots, but I'll take it. I think my favorite was Cairney's first because it started with a steal by Palhinha, was followed by a nice little pass from Reed, then unselfish hold-up play from Vinicius, finished by Cairney's great fake-with-his-left-score-with-his-right move. Wonderful team goal. But Cairney's second was pretty sweet too. After working so hard in a supporting role this season I'm thrilled he got to be in the spotlight again.

 

@stlouisbrad At least the dreaded trip to the DMV was after the 3 Pts.

48 pts w/3 matches left (I’m hoping for 54, but think it’ll be 52).

 

@SoCalJoe Much like Fulham offensively today the DMV had their shit together. In and out in twenty minutes. It was a good day.

 

It was nice to see our #10 capitalize on a rare start by bagging a brace. I don’t know how many more starts or matches Thomas Cairney has in the famous black and white, but he’s been the lynchpin of the club since the Khan era started, at least so far. Very nice pass from Harry to Vinicius, but an even better first touch to finish the goal. Sublime, that. Tete’s dash up the right flank that led to Cairney’s second was exceptional as well, but T.C.’s dummy to shoot and score with his off foot might have been the best. The kamikaze late defending notwithstanding, a nice match to enjoy and decompress from.

 

My how things have changed at Leicester. Vardy and Madison and a couple of others are still there from their championship team, but they looked really bad in an important game. Kasper the friendly Schmeichel wouldn't have let in 5 goals.

 

Some game. We needed Leicester like a balm.
So, after this, does Vinicius start instead on Mitro Saturday?
All of our attacking players must be looking forward to Southampton, and Leno will be hoping not to face an unnecessary penalty or two.