As the season drives on toward its climax Fulham are giving themselves every chance of battling for that top two spot. After another impressive month which has resulted in a new club record being set for the most consecutive league games unbeaten we continue to see the development and transition of our team from a side that loves winning in the right way, to a team that loves winning however it has to. The ability to grind out results has really shone through this past month and it’s hard to see a team stopping this run anytime soon.
Fulham’s record for March ended better than I had previously predicted in my February monthly review at 4-1-0 (W-D-L) with the only blip coming at home against QPR in a closely contested local derby. Fulham scored 11 and only conceded 4 in those 5 games, our defensive capabilities shining through once again and giving us a sturdy platform from which to play our free-flowing attacking football. Fulham’s results for March in full were; Derby 1-2 Fulham, Fulham 3-0 Sheffield Utd, Preston 1-2 Fulham, Fulham 2-2 QPR, Norwich 0-2 Fulham. Our top scorer for the month of March was once again Mitrovic, the clinical striker bagging 5 goals in 5 appearances. Mitrovic’s goals have once again shown exactly why Slavisa was so keen on bringing him in to spearhead our attack. Fulham’s top scorer for the season remains Ryan Sessegnon with 14 but Mitrovic will be hoping to catch him by May and the way Fulham are playing you wouldn’t put it past him.
The most impressive result is a tough call for March as all the games barring QPR could be in with a shout but I’m going to call the Sheffield United result our stand-out performance just pipping the Derby game at the post. A 3-0 home win under the floodlights against a tough team that has only conceded 41 goals in 38 games this season (excluding the Fulham game) and the continued re-establishment of Craven Cottage as a Fortress are the main reasons for this choice. Keeping the Cottage an extremely tough place to visit will be absolutely critical if we can’t get automatic promotion. As we saw last season, drawing at home isn’t enough and assuming if we finish in the playoffs that we will finish 3rd or 4th, we will have home advantage in the second leg, unlike last season. If we can keep the cottage one of the toughest places to visit in the championship it will go a long way to helping us get through the playoff semifinals.
Like February, March was a great month to be following Fulham and the longer this unbeaten run continues the more our chances of finishing in those top two spots increase. The only disappointing note from March was the drab second-half performance in the draw at home to QPR, but we ground out the draw and lived to fight another day.
April will be another big month full of different challenges, 6 games which could see us end the month in the automatic places or solidifying 3rd place. The Cottage will be visited by Leeds, Reading, Brentford and Sunderland and the Whites will be making the trip to the city of steel to play Sheffield Wednesday before heading to The Den to face an in-form Millwall who are unbeaten since the beginning of the year and looking to squeeze into the playoffs, similar to us last season. I can see Fulham coming through April with a 5-0-1 (W-D-L) record, our loss coming in one of our away games. Regardless of if we lose our unbeaten record, this is a great time to be a Fulham supporter and we’ve all been here to see history made so enjoy it while you can.
