Luis Boa Morte was on the pitch last time Fulham beat Chelsea, scoring the winner in the 2006 Craven Cottage meeting between the two sides.
Tonight, he will be in the dugout alongside the mastermind of thriving Fulham’s campaign, Marco Silva, plotting a repeat victory as part of the home side’s coaching staff.
Fulham will kick off sitting proudly in seventh and as the best team in west London, two points ahead of Brentford and three clear of Chelsea.
Luis Boa Morte was on hand with the winner the last time Fulham beat Chelsea back in 2006
On Thursday night Boa Morte will be in the dugout as Marco Silva’s side plot a repeat victory
So much so in fact that given the opportunity to ease his Friday workload by holding his Newcastle preview press conference straight after Chelsea’s visit, Silva’s preference is that it takes place first thing tomorrow morning. Thursday is only about Chelsea.
Appointed as Scott Parker’s successor in July 2021, Silva joined a club and inherited a squad low on morale after a second Premier League relegation in three seasons.
The tone was set in Silva and his coaching staff’s first meeting with their new players when their objective to gain promotion back to the top flight as champions was set.
Belief, the feel-good factor and connection with their supporters began to return to Fulham as positive results arrived and a record-breaking campaign – including a new second-tier high 43 goals for Aleksandar Mitrovic – unfolded leading to the promotion they wanted.
Unlike the previous two times Fulham came up, the positive, post-promotion momentum has continued.
Silva was keen to ensure they built on last season and stuck to the principles he had instilled while maintaining the same attitude and hunger.
Fulham sit in seventh as the top team in west London after a superb first half of the season
No team has scored more goals from set-pieces than the Cottagers (14) so far this season
Silva is said to put his players through hours of dead-ball routines on the training ground
Keeping as much of his promotion-winning squad together was another important factor for Silva and Fulham’s recruitment on top of that has been key.
Following their previous two promotions they had got it wrong. Ahead of 2018/19, over £100m was spent in a scattergun spree, predominantly on players without major Premier League experience and including a raft of arrivals in a frantic final week of the window.
Two years later, there were more loans than permanent signings and, once again, without significant top-flight experience.
This season has seen less upheaval. Knowing for a long time that Fulham were coming up they and Silva have had more time to plan.
He was forthright in the areas he wanted to strengthen his squad and worked willingly with CEO Alistair Mackintosh and director of football operations Tony Khan to get players not just with the right qualities but character and price tag.
The Portuguese boss has transformed Fulham’s fortunes since arriving in 2021
Goalkeeper Leno at £3m and midfielder Palhinha at £17m are examples of the value Fulham have found in the market.
The new faces have complemented Silva’s existing squad, raising the level of his side and their teammates.
Having struggled last time in the top flight under Scott Parker, defender Tim Ream is in the form of his life and among those revitalised under Silva.
‘Have you watched any Fulham games lately?’ US coach Gregg Berhalter said of Ream’s inclusion in his World Cup squad after his year-long absence from national team duty.
Some expected Harrison Reed to become a rotational option but he has impressed in midfield alongside Palhinha and remained a mainstay.
Silva is described as personable and popular with the players he is getting the best out of and meticulous, intricate and detailed in his work. ‘His work ethic is second to none,’ one source said.
That is encapsulated in Fulham’s set-piece prowess. No team have scored more than their 10.
They spend hours on them in training working through their routines relentlessly in such detail another source described it as ‘to the millimetre.’
Fulham will now hope to continue their incredible rise against their neighbours on Thursday
The repertoire is supposedly small and there is surprise from some within Fulham that, despite the low number of routines plus level of preparation opposing teams can now do, few seem able to stop them.
‘We showed them [his players] the exact same set-play ten times,’ Southampton manager Nathan Jones said. ‘It’s not something that’s happened off the cuff as they [Fulham] do it week in, week out.’ Yet, still Southampton lost at Fulham recently after conceding two set-piece goals.
And then there is that man Mitrovic. Getting the best out of him is another main focus. Persuaded to stay by Khan after an unhappy campaign that ended in Fulham’s 2021 relegation, Silva has done just that.
On the back of last-season’s 43-goal haul Mitrovic has already equalled his best ever top-flight tally of 11 goals in just 15 games, 22 matches less than he needed to hit that mark in 2018/19.
He will miss Chelsea’s visit suspended with Carlos Vinicius a likely replacement but ‘we have other solutions as well’ Silva teased.
That should not really be in doubt. The last 18 months and Fulham’s eye-catching top-flight return have proved Silva is a man with a plan.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk