🦁 PL Previews: Can record-breaking Mitrović keep Fulham up? | OneFootball

Can English football’s perennial yo-yo club finally cut the strings and stay in the Premier League?

Coach Marco Silva doesn’t have the best record of keeping teams up but with striker Aleksandar Mitrović taking his game to a new level, the west London club will be eyeing an extended stay in the top flight.

Click here to see all of our season previews so far.

Transfers 🔁

In: Joao Palhinha (Sporting CP, £17m), Andreas Pereira (Manchester United, £10m)

Out: Fabio Carvalho (Liverpool, £5m), Andre-Frank Zambo Anguisa (Napoli, £10m), Jean Michael Seri (Hull City, free), Michael Hector, Alfie Mawson (both released), Steven Sessegnon (Charlton, loan), Sonny Hilton (Carlisle, loan), Taye Ashby-Hammond (Stevenage, loan), Kieron Bowie (Northampton, loan)

Transfer balance: -£12m

Key fixtures 📆

🔑 Key player: Aleksandar Mitrović

The eternal enigma that is Aleksandar Mitrović returns to the Premier League this season with a point to prove.

The Serbia international as been pretty indifferent every time he’s turned out in the English top flight so far for the Cottagers.

But last season in the Championship, Mitrović was so far ahead of everyone else in the division that it was almost laughable.

The 27-year-old scored a record-smashing 43 goals in 44 appearances – 13 more than the division’s previous goalscoring best set by Glenn Murray.

If the west London side are to stay up, Mitrović will need to be in a similar vein of form in front of goal.

What has changed since last season? 🤔

There has been a high-profile departee in Fábio Carvalho but Fulham have pulled out all the stop to land Joao Pahlinha from Sporting and Andreas Pereira from Manchester United.

Those two Portuguese-speakers will add some undoubted quality to a Cottagers squad that is already filled with decent names on paper.

That has been Fulham’s problem in the past though, players good on paper and not-so-special when it comes to the crunch of Premier League football.

Under Marco Silva though, things look like they are turning corner but key games early in the season will give fans on the Thames are true answer as to whether that is the case.

Predicted XI 🔮

(4-2-3-1) — Rodak; Tete, Adarabioyo, Ream, Robinson; Palhinha, Cairney; Wilson, Pereira, Reid; Mitrović.

Where will they finish? 🏆

Premier League: 19th FA Cup: Third round Carabao Cup: Third round

Click here to see all of our season previews so far.