sport news Fulham are Premier League set-piece kings with Marco Silva's clever dead-ball ... trends now
Luis Boa Morte was on the pitch last time Fulham beat Chelsea, scoring the winner in the 2006 Craven Cottage meeting between the two sides.
Tonight, he will be in the dugout alongside the mastermind of thriving Fulham’s campaign, Marco Silva, plotting a repeat victory as part of the home side’s coaching staff.
Fulham will kick off sitting proudly in seventh and as the best team in west London, two points ahead of Brentford and three clear of Chelsea.
Luis Boa Morte was on hand with the winner the last time Fulham beat Chelsea back in 2006
On Thursday night Boa Morte will be in the dugout as Marco Silva's side plot a repeat victory
So much so in fact that given the opportunity to ease his Friday workload by holding his Newcastle preview press conference straight after Chelsea’s visit, Silva’s preference is that it takes place first thing tomorrow morning. Thursday is only about Chelsea.
Appointed as Scott Parker’s successor in July 2021, Silva joined a club and inherited a squad low on morale after a second Premier League relegation in three seasons.
The tone was set in Silva and his coaching staff’s first meeting with their new players when their objective to gain promotion back to the top flight as champions was set.
Belief, the feel-good factor and connection with their supporters began to return to Fulham as positive results arrived and a record-breaking campaign – including a new second-tier high 43 goals for Aleksandar Mitrovic - unfolded leading to the promotion they wanted.
Unlike the previous two times Fulham came up, the positive, post-promotion momentum has continued.
Silva was keen to ensure they built on last season and stuck to the principles he had instilled while maintaining the same attitude and hunger.
Fulham sit in seventh as the top team in west London after a superb first half of the season
No team has scored more goals from set-pieces than the Cottagers (14) so far this season
Silva is said to put his players through hours of dead-ball routines on the training ground
Keeping as much of his promotion-winning squad together was another important factor for Silva and Fulham’s recruitment on top of that has been key.
Following their previous two promotions they had got it wrong. Ahead of 2018/19, over £100m was spent in a scattergun spree, predominantly on players without major Premier League experience and including a raft
