Fulham at Luton Town - 2023-24 Season Finale

Fulham wraps up the season as the last Premier League competition the Hatters will see at Kenilworth Road for at least a little while. Luton Town isn't mathematically eliminated, but they would need a win, plus a Forest loss against Burnley, plus a mind boggling swing in goal differential to stay up. So essentially the Premier League run is over for Luton.

Meanwhile for Fulham, they can't go any lower than their current position of 14th and a draw won't move them up any positions, so they really have absolutely nothing to lose. Fulham could go as high as 12th with a win plus losses from Palace and Wolverhampton.

The biggest question for Fulham is, with Diop out on a red card suspension, who starts at right CB? I doubt Tosin will be brought in after being sent to work hospitality a few weeks ago. Ream or Bassey on the right side of central defense have been terrible (although getting to see Ream start one more time would be nice). So do you bring in Tete or even Palhinha to play out of position? Or do you let a young player, Luc DeFougerolles, get a start? My vote is for DeFougerolles.

My thoughts also can't help but return to Hatter Don who we lost almost a year ago. He'd probably be pulling for a Woodrow score and a Fulham win.

The match kicks off along with all the others at 11am EDT Sunday morning on Peacock.

 

The last match is always bittersweet but this one, for all the reasons @MicahMan mentioned, will be even more so than usual.

The good news for me is that it looks like rain here on Sunday, so I can watch without feeling guilty about not doing yard work.

I don’t think we’ll see DeFougerolles starting though I suppose he could make the bench. He just played the whole 90 in the PL Cup final yesterday. There is a news update on the offal where Marco basically says everything you just said - maybe two left footers, maybe Tete, maybe Palhinha. I guess we’ll find out Sunday.

I really want to finish the season with a win.

 

Ah, good point. I wasn't even paying attention to what the U-21's were doing!

 

No live match for me. The battlehawks are in town. Kakaw!!! I look forward to catching the replay.

 

We haven’t had anything much to play for in awhile, so I hope the finale is enough to spur a winning effort.

 

I almost forgot about dancing bananas!

It was nice to end the season on a high note even if the game didn't mean much. With Wolverhampton's loss Fulham did manage to climb one spot to 13th. The match was entertaining - especially the close of the first half! I thought that was a really soft penalty to give, it looked like a dive to me, so I'm glad Fulham scored immediately after. My favorite part of the match came from the away fans when they were singing "Say hello to QPR!" I also appreciated Silva's lineup and sub choices. It gave some guys a chance to prove themselves with a start, but he also let guys like Muniz have a chance to get one last run out in front of the fans. It was probably the best way to try to get a win out of the day.

 

That was a fun way to end the season. After weeks of relatively uninspired play (due to achieving safety in the league), this match was a joy to watch. Granted it helped that Fulham were on top for pretty much all of it, but anyway. I was happy to see Ream get one last start - and the captain's armband - and I think he did well considering the match rust and his role as Wrong-Footed Ream. Wilson was great and easily Man of the Match (though Raul made a strong case as well). I think this will do well to hold me over for the next three months.