Marco Silva's Fulham evolution enters its next stage

Take a glance at the Premier League table and you will see that one top-half team stands out, sandwiched between those with vastly deeper pockets and much loftier season expectations.

Fulham have so far kept pace with the title contenders and favourites to finish in the European places come May. They sit sixth in the table, above Newcastle, Tottenham, Brighton and Manchester United.

Still early days but still an impressive feat, and not one considered a surprise in west London.

While last season’s 13th-place finish could be chalked down as a regression on paper, having finished 10th the season prior, they did add statement victories against big-six opposition by beating Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham.

Marco Silva rightly saw them as significant milestones in the club’s evolution. And ‘evolution’ is the appropriate word.

The 47-year-old has been the key cog in the Fulham machine since their 2022 return to the Premier League and has honed his favoured 4-2-3-1 system across four seasons, while also taking on a leading role in the club’s recruitment policy and genuinely making players better.

Bernd Leno joined from Arsenal in 2022, Emile Smith Rowe this summer. Leno has played some of the best football of his career in a Fulham shirt; Smith Rowe looks certain to.

Fulham have a knack for buying smartly. Alex Iwobi, Sasa Lukic and Adama Traore have all come to the fore this season or last, all better players than when making their debuts under Silva.

Raul Jimenez’s form is the most immediate and best representation. The former Wolves striker looked off the pace last season and was outshone in the second half of the season by Rodrigo Muniz remarkable purple patch in front of goal.

The tables have turned, though, and now Jimenez is the form striker after scoring in three straight league games. A £5.5million move from Molineux was last summer viewed as an affordable, largely risk-free punt, following Aleksandar Mitrovic’s exit, and is now verging on ‘steal’ territory.

Silva made sure there was no hangover from a frustrating loss at Manchester United on the opening night of the new Premier League campaign. They beat Leicester City the following weekend to get on the board for the season and have since earned three points against Newcastle and at the City Ground against Nottingham Forest.

Battling draws with Ipswich Town and West Ham — Fulham the better team in both — means that narrow loss to United remains the only blot on their 2024/25 report card thus far.

And that includes an early Carabao Cup exit to Preston North End.

Silva has made it clear in recent seasons that the Premier League is his main priority, so will be happy to focus solely on climbing the league standings until FA Cup third-round weekend in January.

Plenty will expect Fulham, in time, to fall down the table, but supporters will be eager to remind them that betting against Silva has tended to backfire.