Fulham have been promoted to the Premier League once again after finishing at the top of the Championship dogfight and scoring 106 goals along the way (2.3 goals per game). But what can we expect from Fulham in FPL?
The promotion was spearheaded by their goal-scoring dynamo Aleksandar Mitrović (£6.5m) who broke the Championship record for most goals in a season with a fantastic tally of 43 goals. Can Mitrović and his West London side break their curse and stay up this season?
A CLOSER LOOK AT FULHAM IN FPL 2022/23
Manager
Former Everton manager Marco Silva took the reins of Fulham as manager after their relegation from the Premier League in the 20/21 season. Marco Silva started his career with successful spells at Olympiacos in Greece and Sporting CP in Portugal, winning silverware at both clubs.
He then had short stints managing Hull City, Watford & Everton, all lasting less than 18 months with mixed results on the pitch on each occasion.
Tactics
Silva has employed his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation to the Fulham squad with devastating effect, with his team scoring 7 goals on three occasions, 6 goals on two occasions and 5 goals on two occasions, all within the 21/22 season as part of their 106-goal tally.
However, defensive frailties have been exposed, with the team conceding 4 goals on two occasions, 3 goals on one occasion and 2 on six occasions, showing that this is an area for improvement as the team moves back into the Premier League.
These statistics suggest that midfield and forward options would be the desired targets from Fulham rather than defensive and goalkeeper options.
Players
A pivotal inclusion to the squad in the lead-up to the 21/22 season for Fulham included Harry Wilson (£6.0m), a €14m midfield signing from Liverpool who had previous successful loan spells at Bournemouth and Cardiff.
Wilson recently turned 25 and has been growing and progressing as a player over the last 5 seasons. He averaged 10 goals & 9 assists per season in Championship loan spells with Hull City, Bournemouth & Cardiff City. So far, his only premier league spell has been with Bournemouth in the 19/20 season, where he scored 7 goals for a relegated team, a solid return.
Wilson had a breakout year in the 21/22 Championship season for Fulham, recording 10 Goals & 19 Assists. Wilson was the top playmaker in the Championship, recording the most assists and was Fulham’s 3rd highest goalscorer in the league operating from the Right Wing position.
Wilson could be the budget option allowing you to redirect funds to the rest of your team while scoring a respectable number of points.
Aleksandar Mitrović (£6.5m) will be the most talked-about Fulham asset by far. After breaking the Championship goal-scoring record with 43 goals, it is hard not to consider the Centre Forward in your FPL Gameweek 1 lineup.
Mitrovic, who will turn 28 later this year, has had 3 past stints in the Premier League with both Newcastle and Fulham. He has seen some success in his previous years, scoring 24 goals and recording 10 assists across 104 matches (72 starts) but was quite inconsistent. This inconsistency could be due to his young age at the time (especially during his Newcastle days) or his team’s overall relative poor performances (being relegated with Fulham twice).
However, I believe at a budget price, Mitrovic can prove to be a more consistent goalscorer than previously seen in the Premier League and become a great value addition to your FPL lineup. Mitrovic averaged 4.66 Shots per 90 (2.14 on target) which is a great indicator for performance as volume of shots is highly correlated with goals scored. Mitrovic also provided 7 assists which helped add to his attacking return tally. He also is on penalty duty, scoring 6 for Fulham last season which will aid him in keeping his goal scoring tally ticking along in the upcoming season.
There are no other obvious options for your FPL team from the Fulham squad. I would wait and see what their transfer activity looks like in the market. Keep the rest of their squad as a ‘wait and see’ during the season. It will also be interesting to see how Marco Silva adapts in his return to Premier League managerial life.
Nick, also known as StatsmanFPL, is a qualified data analyst with a love for FPL. He analyses the data so you don’t have to. Make sure to follow him on Twitter and Instagram.