Simply Having a One-nil-derful Christmas Time
Elizabeth reflects on Fulham's three wins in a row
At 4:40pm on Saturday, during the 84th minute of Fulham’s game against West Ham, things had never felt more turgid. Fulham had just played out 84 minutes of a low-quality game against one of the worst teams in the league, and - if anything - Nuno’s Hammers were on top. If West Ham’s finishing hadn’t been so woeful, they could’ve been at least one up.
And then, the narrative turned on a sixpence, as it always does in football. Harry Wilson’s cross was headed away by Mateus Fernandes, but only back to the feet of our number 8 (through the legs of West Ham’s Ollie Scarles). Wilson hit the ball into the six yard box with pinpoint accuracy, making it look so easy, and Raul Jimenez didn’t even need to jump. One nil. This season, our striker situation has rightly been criticised - but here was Raul proving, once again, that he still has it. This was his fourth league goal this season, and three have been crucial strikes in attritional one-nil wins (Sunderland, Forest, and now West Ham).
Suddenly, we’re looking up rather than down. This result elevates Fulham into the top half of the table (just about - we’re one point above Tottenham Hotspur in 11th, and only three above Newcastle in 14th). For weeks, we’d been bemoaning Fulham’s position in the table, and how we were rooted to 15th despite some good results. We were a victim of how bunched the middle of the Premier League is this season - as soon as we got a win, enough teams around us would as well, and we’d stay in the same position. But now, we’re sailing up the table, and the density of the league’s middle section is finally an advantage for us. We’re three points off sixth!
This win puts Fulham 13 points above the relegation zone - a huge relief in a season where we all have, at some point, genuinely feared the drop. West Ham are in 18th place, and while I can’t say with confidence that we looked that much better than them on Saturday, there is something to be said for points on the board. This run of results also unearths a Fulhamish tradition from a few years ago - from Marco Silva’s first season in the Championship, 2021/22 - when we’d sound the horn after a particularly good run of results. In the Premier League, the conditions for this have been that we have to sit in the top half after three wins in a row. Maybe we are getting a little carried away with ‘HMS Piss the League’ at this point… just maybe…
I was amazed that Match of the Day managed to get five and a half minutes of ‘highlights’ out of this game. I envy anyone who didn’t watch the game but will dive into the all the post-match content, buoyed by leftover mince pies and the excitement of Fulham turning their season around. Sammy and Drew’s Quick Take from Crate Brewery is the perfect place to start - you can hear the glee (and a few pints) in their voices. Sammy admits he missed the first 25 minutes of the game because of train delays - but it wasn’t a problem, as precisely nothing was happening.
Owen Macdonald’s match report is a great accompaniment - he discusses the individual performances across the park (of course, Sammy and Drew surely couldn’t see much from the away end of the London Stadium, possibly the worst place in the Premier League to watch football). He also reviews Fulham’s squad depth, dwelling on how Fulham are coping without our AFCON absentees. Sammy also took on the Player Ratings - come for his delight at Antonee Robinson’s renaissance in the team, and stay for Marco Silva getting his flowers.
The podcast will be out on Monday afternoon, looking back on a wonderful Christmas period for the Whites. Yes, it has been attritional and not always convincing, but if now’s not the time to get carried away, then when? As fans, we’re not out there on the pitch, having to keep focused with our head on our shoulders. New Year is my favourite time of year because of the possibility that lies ahead - what could Fulham go onto achieve in 2026? Let’s dream a little.
Financial Fair Play rules are designed to stop ultra-rich clubs from consistently ‘buying’ the Premiership title but they have an unintended consequence, bunching in the middle of the table. The top division is now divided into four sections; those which can spend £20millionish on a key player (relegation area) clubs like Fulham which can go to £40millionish (usually mid-table) then the £60millionish group (threatening top four) and finally the £100millionish toffs (consistently top five). For Fulham the only way to improve income is to qualify for Europe which means taking a huge financial risk with the FFP rules and plunging into the £60 millionish bracket on a couple of players. The figures are a rough guide and there can be brief exceptions but I think this demonstrates how money shapes the Premier League, which should be called a ‘division’ incidentally. Regards, Baz.