Once seen as akin to a loveable little cub in the Premier League, a friendly away ground to visit and a team who often struggled away from home, Fulham are back. This time, though, under Slavisa Jokanovic, they carry a different kind of bite. They score a lot of goals, concede a fair few along the way and generally entertain far more than previous entities the Cottagers brought to the Premier League.
This time around, it all feels like a little more like when Fulham first came on the scene as a top flight team. They look wild-eyed, ambitious and entirely fearless of a challenge. They look like the kind of promoted team that, if they can keep their momentum and their playing ethos that got them promoted, they could easily fly forward into the new season.
More teams are put off by a playing style that’s as offensive and as aggressive as Fulham. With the likes of Ryan Sessegnon, Tom Cairney and Aleksander Mitrovic, they have a pretty serviceable amount of firepower for a newly promoted side.
2018/19 Prediction
The defence is the main concern, with the likes of Time Ream and Tomas Kalas – with all due respect – not really up to it at the very top end of English domestic football. They might need to replace some of the players who were so key last year, and how that impacts on a tightly knit and harmonious squad will be quite interesting.
They’ll stay up, though, defence or not.