Should the Tractor Boys of Ipswich Town continue to leave Championship foes battered and bruised in their wake, top-flight meetings with Fulham could be on the menu for 2024-25, but Marco Silva’s men subjected their second-tier hosts to a harsh reality check in the EFL Cup.
For all of Ipswich’s feats in the final third, the Tractor Boys have often forgotten to keep the back door closed, and Fulham took full advantage on Wednesday evening as Harry Wilson, Rodrigo Muniz and Tom Cairney made the net bulge, and Ipswich goalkeeper Christian Walton will not want to watch the former or latter’s goals back.
Elkan Baggott’s 79th-minute header came too late to inspire a fightback, and a place in the semis will be up for grabs when Fulham square off with Everton next month, but regaining some much-needed top-flight consistency is now priority number one on Silva’s Cottagers checklist.
Thanks to a Joao Palhinha drive an all-around domineering performance from the touch-tackling Portuguese, Fulham held Brighton & Hove Albion to a 1-1 draw in their last top-flight affair, denying the Seagulls their first-ever Premier League win against them but dropping to 14th place as a result.
Three wins, three draws and four losses in the Premier League so far can certainly be described as a mixed bag, and while two of those victories have come at Craven Cottage, newly-promoted sides Luton Town and Sheffield United were the victims.
Unwanted records had already been matched when the Citizens put three past Erik ten Hag’s team without reply last weekend, and with Newcastle following in the treble winners’ footsteps, Man United have lost back-to-back home games by at least three goals for the first time since 1962, which was also the most recent year when they suffered eight defeats from their opening 15 games of a campaign.
Ten Hag supposedly has enough credit in the bank to avoid being given his P45, but the Dutchman has recognised that his side’s efforts have been nowhere near good enough, as the Red Devils languish in eighth place in the table, closer to the relegation zone than top spot points-wise.
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A return to the road – where Man United have beaten Sheffield United and Burnley in back-to-back contests – should therefore be welcomed with open arms by the Man United faithful, who have not seen their side lose to Fulham since 2009, but the Cottagers will seemingly not get a better chance to break that 17-game curse
Over the past few weeks, there has been little movement in or indeed out of the Fulham medical bay, where Issa Diop (foot), Tosin Adarabioyo (groin), Adama Traore (thigh) and Kenny Tete (unspecified) remained on Wednesday evening.
However, Traore and Tete are working their way back to full fitness and might make the squad this weekend, and Silva’s biggest selection dilemma lies in the number nine role after Muniz justified his manager’s selection with a first goal of the season at Portman
