The international break came at a good time for Fulham, who have failed to win in any of their three league matches since an opening day victory over Everton (D1, L2). That sequence does include meetings with last season’s top-two in Manchester City (L 5-1) and Arsenal (D 2-2), with the City defeat sparking the ire of boss Marco Silva, who hit out at VAR following the award of City’s second goal.
Silva has also had to deal with losing star striker Aleksandar Mitrović and the fallout of João Palhinha’s failed move to Bayern Munich, whilst also fending off advances from Al Ahli. A chance to reset precedes an interesting quartet of fixtures over the next four rounds, two against newly promoted clubs (Luton and Sheffield United) and a pair of meetings with the two sides to finish directly beneath them in the Premier League (PL) table last season (Crystal Palace and Chelsea).
As pre-season favourites to be relegated, it’s no surprise to see Luton yet to register a PL point, particularly as they spent less money than any other PL club whilst having to invest heavily in getting Kenilworth Road up to top-flight standards. It’s certainly too early to declare their season over, with three of the last four PL clubs to lose their opening three matches avoiding relegation including top-half finishers Arsenal and Wolves in 2021/22.
Head coach Rob Edwards vowed improvement after a season opening 4-1 loss at Brighton, and despite insisting he has seen game-by-game improvement in their three losses, Edwards conceded he was “really disappointed” the club didn’t take any points from their first top-flight home game in 30 years when falling 2-1 to West Ham prior to the international break.
Players to watch: After he won all four of his goal scoring appearances last season and scored in their 2-2 draw away to Arsenal last month, star Fulham midfielder Palhinha may have more of an eye on goal going forward. Ross Barkley could be Luton’s lucky charm to get their season up and running given he’s won all five of his prior personal H2Hs against Fulham.
Hot stat: All but one of the seven PL games involving either club this season produced more than 2.5 total goals.
