Feature

Prior to kick-off, Sabri Lamouchi's Nottingham Forest hadn't lost after returning to Championship action and Scott Parker's Fulham were slowly picking up the pace, having claimed victories in their previous two meetings. 4th vs 5th, a contest between two differing strategic minds, we were gearing up for a cagey, heedful confrontation on Tuesday afternoon and it delivered precisely that.

We were milliseconds away from registering our first 0-0 at Craven Cottage since 2011 but it just wouldn't be Fulham if there wasn't a morsel of late drama to digest. Birmingham City advertised a stubborn fight, although there were no Saturday blues to endure for those backing the Whites.

Though my eyes are still stinging from our mono-dimensional performance from box to box, I'll revel in Tuesday evening's West London derby triumph, because I'm frankly exhausted of moaning. Having said that, I never mentioned I'd cease my recurrent whinging, so I'll continue for the sake of reason and debate.

If we fine-tune in a number of key areas, the Premier League beckons. That’s according to Dara Curran, who outlines our areas of improvement.

Fulham hadn't lost a Championship meeting against Leeds United since March 2015, drawing 5 and winning 2. With good omens on our side in that respect, we were anticipating a spirited reaction after falling short of the mark against Brentford, but we were eventually force fed the usual tripe as Marcelo Bielsa's table-toppers proved our spinelessness on Sky Sports.

Ahead of the Championship run in, even the most optimistic of Fulham supporters are likely to have pondered over the future of Aleksandar Mitrović.

I've been waiting eagerly to return to Wordpress for an eternity and though we lost in such a pathetic manner, it's a genuine pleasure to get the brain ticking and the keys clicking once again! After a three month absence, football has finally returned to our lives (albeit via a TV screen) and there's no better way to kick off, or resume, the remainder of the 2019/20 campaign with a West London Derby.

This weekend, whistles will sound in football stadiums for the first time in months. But for the first time in footballing history, they will echo through empty stadiums, punctuated only by the occasional yell from the players, and barked orders from managers who cast a stark figure against a backdrop of plastic chairs.