‘Return of the king’, ‘Panic over’ – Many Fulham fans react as line-up emerges for Preston clash | OneFootball

After a seven match winning run, Fulham’s Championship dominance was snapped by a plucky Derby County side at Craven Cottage on Wednesday night.

Despite being dominant for the most part, the league leaders could not find a way past Kelle Roos in-between the sticks for the Rams, which was a surprise considering the Cottagers had netted 25 goals in their last seven outings.

Maybe things would have been different if Marco Silva had his talisman Aleksandar Mitrovic to rely on, with the Serb, who has 21 goals in 18 Championship games so far, missing this season through illness.

Quiz: 30 questions about Fulham’s best strikers from the last 5 years – Can you score 30/30?

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What was Aleksandar Mitrovic's league goal tally for 2021/22 after the Barnsley (H) match?

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And it is an illness which has passed through to other players as Silva named five senior men who are also suffering and were not guaranteed to make it to Deepdale this afternoon.

However the bug has seemingly subsided as all but Cairney are in the squad, with Mitrovic being a much-needed return to the starting 11.

Mitrovic in for Rodrigo Muniz is not the only change as Denis Odoi and Marek Rodak are in for Kenny Tete and Paulo Gazzaniga in what is being seen as a very good Cottagers line-up to try and get them back to winning ways.