Peter Rutzler, The Athletic: Muniz is filling Mitrović's boots | OneFootball

Fulham striker Rodrigo Muniz is the player to watch when the Whites travel across west London to face Brentford at Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday, says The Athletic's Peter Rutzler.

Having sold talismanic striker Aleksandar Mitrović in the summer, Muniz has stepped up and scored nine goals in his last 13 Premier League appearances.

Fulham are 13th in the Premier League table with three games left to play. How would you summarise their season?

It has been a season of ups and downs and, at times, Fulham have been quite erratic. They are a team that have shown they can beat anyone on their day, but they also have the capacity to frustrate.

Considering where the team was last summer, having lost the talismanic figure of Aleksandar Mitrović, to have recovered from that, to have found a way to keep scoring goals and to be mathematically safe with five games to spare is really quite impressive.

There is always the sense that the team is capable of pushing a little higher, but considering how competitive the Premier League is, this has been a really solid season.

With a better away record, Fulham would no doubt be challenging a little higher up the table. Why do you think they have struggled on the road this term?

Fulham have been really strong at home, but they have certainly been let down by what they have done on the road. In the first half of the season, their away fixtures were particularly tough and they played the majority of the so-called ‘big six’ on the road. They went to Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal and that has skewed things a little bit.

In the second half of the season, they targeted improving that form, though they have let some results slip that they should not have done. They lost at Nottingham Forest, threw away a two-goal lead at Burnley and somehow managed to concede three goals at Sheffield United.

Those results have held them back because what they did not do last season was beat teams above them in the table, despite beating teams below them. This season, they have shown they can beat teams above them – Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United, for example – but they have also, inexplicably, dropped points to sides below them. It has been like stepping forward and stepping backwards at the same time.

They are still very much in with a chance of a top-10 finish. Having finished there on five occasions before, how important would it be to follow up last season’s 10th place with another?

That was the target, to try and match what they did last season; to achieve that would be really impressive.

Losing Mitrović was such a big thing. The squad is stronger, and they have signed players who have added depth in wide areas, like Alex Iwobi, while in defence, they added Calvin Bassey and Timothy Castagne.

If they were able to match last season it would be really quite impressive because I think a lot of people feared they would succumb to second-season syndrome after speculation around João Palhinha and Marco Silva. It just has not happened.

Which player should Brentford fans keep an eye on?

Rodrigo Muniz, a really interesting player who was one of Marco Silva’s first signings.

He arrived in 2021 from Brazil with few professional minutes under his belt and has really come to life in the second half of this season after a very brief window of opportunity when Raúl Jiménez picked up an injury, Fulham signed Armando Broja from Chelsea and he had to play at Burnley, which was his main chance to prove a point. He scored and that one goal has proven transformational for his confidence.

Muniz is a player who has always had that technical ability; he always felt a bit raw, yet never looked the complete package. He has improved immensely in terms of his hold-up play and link-up play, become difficult for opposition defenders to deal with, and he is scoring goals.

He has been a really important part of the team and I’m sure he will be causing problems again in this game.

How is Marco Silva likely to set up his side at the Gtech?

He pretty much sets up the same way, no matter the opponent.

It is a 4-3-3 in possession. He likes to build up in wide areas with combinations, and out of possession it is more of a 4-4-2 block.

They are always trying to play on the front foot, with a no.9 to link the play and put it all together and a holding midfielder in Palhinha, who likes to sweep up and tackle everything in sight.

Everyone looks forward to this fixture, not only because it’s a west London derby, but also because there always seems to be plenty of goals. What’s your score prediction?

I expect there to be a fair few goals in this one.

Fulham will want to try and make amends for what happened at Craven Cottage earlier in the season; Brentford’s win that day was a bit too comfortable. I will go for a 2-2 draw.