344 days after Fulham was relegated from the Premier League, the Cottagers clinched promotion back to the top tier of English football with a 3-0 win over Preston North End on Tuesday.
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Aleksandar Mitrovic scored two more goals and Fabio Carvalho also scored in the win, which also marks the return of Marco Silva to the Premier League.
Mitrovic has proven himself a difference-making superstar in the EFL Championship once again, re-writing a record that was only just updated this time last year. The 27-year-old Serbian’s 40 goals (with four games still to play) are already seven more than Brentford striker Ivan Toney tallied last season while leading the Bees to promotion via the playoffs. He also has seven assists.
In two and a half Championship seasons for Fulham, Mitrovic has scored an astonishing 78 goals in 96 games. In two Premier League seasons, he has scored 14 goals in 64 appearances.
Liverpool loanee Harry Wilson has played both setup man and goalscorer as well, scoring 10 goals (the only other Cottager to reach double-digits thus far) and assisting 14 others. Wilson will officially join Fulham on a permanent basis this summer, as per the loan agreement.
USMNT left back Antonee Robinson remained at Fulham after last season’s relegation, made the starting spot his by making 31 of 41 starts thus far and has earned the right to once again call himself a Premier League player.
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Fulham’s latest promotion, under former Watford and Everton manager Marco Silva, officially seals their status as the modern-day yo-yo club, as now each of their last five seasons have resulted in either winning promotion to the Premier League (2018, 2020 and 2022), or being relegated to the Championship (2019 and 2021).
The key difference to this promotion is the dominance with which Fulham have taken the second division this season. The Cottagers’ lead on 2nd-place Bournemouth is nine points, with the Cherries now having played one less game. Barring an unfathomable collapse after achieving objective no. 1, Fulham will finish as champions of the second tier for the first time since 2001.
