Review

Not quite the start to 2019 that we were hoping for as the clock struck 12 on New Year's Day, but it certainly wasn't your typical 4-1 drubbing by any stretch of the hungover imagination. The score line often speaks for itself, but Claudio Ranieri's Whites charged from the traps and poked and prodded Unai Emery's Arsenal from the off.

Limbs. We knew before kick-off that a victory against Huddersfield Town was compulsory and we reached our primary objective at the death. Drama. It wasn't our finest performance whatsoever, that's for certain, although when there's so much at stake, with both camps scrapping for the spoils, sometimes you have to win ugly, really ugly.

Is it me, or did that feel like a bitter defeat at the final whistle? Couldn't help the sour tang, but now that the dust, as well as our stomachs, has settled, Boxing Day's 1-1 draw against Nuno Espírito Santo's highly-organised Wolverhampton Wanderers now leaves an intriguingly sweet aftertaste on the pallet, with just a smidgen of apprehension and disappointment.

We did it. We actually kept a clean sheet in the Premier League. Drink it in, we're an unwavering defensive collective and there's nothing in existence that can breach us. Well, maybe I'm being a tad hasty, but Saturday's 0-0 draw against Newcastle United proved that Claudio Ranieri's operation is drifting in the right direction.

Damp, dreary, dismal, and I'm not talking about the blessed weather, either. Following our deflating 4-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester United, a reinvigorated reaction was desperately required against an in-form West Ham United, but what we were cursed with, sodden through to the bone on a blustery Saturday evening, a vastly uninspired Fulham that are completely devoid of confidence, spirit and leadership.

The result genuinely speaks for itself, loud and clear. What a dismal afternoon Fulham stumbled through at the Theatre of Dreams, or chilling nightmares, against Jose Mourinho's Manchester United, who leisurely coasted through proceedings in cruise control. Needless to add, but it was also United's biggest home victory of the campaign.

What an exhilarating encounter we had on Wednesday evening down by the river, under the lights, against one of Claudio Ranieri's former employers, Leicester City. Following Sunday's raucous away support that shook Stamford Bridge, Craven Cottage was literally bouncing. Well, the Hammersmith End definitely swayed and oscillated wildly, that's for sure.

If you cup your hand around your ear and listen hard enough, you can still hear a cacophony of glorious Fulham chants reverberate through various nooks, crannies and artisan nonsense shops in SW6, all thanks to you, the Whites' ardent, unwavering, irrepressible faithful. Cam Ramsey takes a look back.