Fulham’s 2022-23 Season: Top-Half Return

Fulham’s 2022-23 Season: Top-Half Return

Fulham’s 2022-23 Season: A Return to the Premier League

Fulham arrived in the Premier League for the 2022-23 campaign carrying a reputation they were desperate to shed. Two previous promotions under different managers had ended in immediate relegation, and the club’s “yo-yo” tag hung over Craven Cottage as Marco Silva prepared his squad for a fresh top-flight test. This time, the foundations looked sturdier. Silva had guided Fulham to the Championship title the previous season, winning the division with 90 points while Aleksandar Mitrovic rewrote the competition’s scoring record with 43 goals, and the club backed that success with a purposeful summer rebuild rather than wholesale panic buying.

A Promoted Side Prepares for the Premier League

The recruitment strategy reflected lessons learned from past failures. Fulham brought in Joao Palhinha from Sporting CP to anchor midfield, signed goalkeeper Bernd Leno from Arsenal, and added defensive depth through Issa Diop from West Ham United. Willian arrived as a free agent after impressing Silva in training, bringing Premier League and Champions League experience to a dressing room otherwise light on top-flight pedigree. Further additions such as Andreas Pereira, Kevin Mbabu, Manor Solomon, and Shane Duffy rounded out a squad built for depth as much as star power, a rebuild covered in detail by Sports Mole at the time. These signings were designed to complement rather than overhaul the core group that had powered promotion, giving Fulham’s 2022-23 season a squad balanced between proven Championship performers and players who understood what survival at this level required.

Silva’s Cottagers Announce Themselves Early

Expectations shifted almost immediately once matches kicked off. Fulham collected ten points from their opening five fixtures, a return that included victories over Arsenal and Brentford and helped Silva claim the Premier League Manager of the Month award for August. The early form silenced some of the doubts surrounding a newly promoted side and set a tone of competitiveness that would largely hold throughout the campaign, even as the inevitable rough patches arrived later in the season. That opening burst proved crucial in the long run, giving Fulham a points cushion to fall back on whenever momentum stalled.

Steady Progress Through the Premier League Table

Fulham’s 2022-23 season ultimately settled into a rhythm of respectable, occasionally thrilling football. The club finished tenth with 52 points from 15 wins, 7 draws, and 16 defeats, a record good enough to represent their best Premier League finish since 2011-12. Fulham also scored 55 league goals, a club record for a single top-flight campaign, while conceding 53 at the other end. That balance between attacking ambition and defensive vulnerability defined much of the season, as detailed in the club’s full statistical breakdown on FBref. The final standings, published by the Premier League itself, placed Fulham comfortably clear of the relegation zone with room to spare, a tangible sign of progress after years of instability at Craven Cottage.

Cup Campaigns Bring Contrast

Fulham’s two domestic cup runs told sharply different stories, offering both a highlight and a cautionary tale within the same campaign.

FA Cup Heartbreak at Old Trafford

The FA Cup brought Fulham’s furthest run in the competition since 2017-18, culminating in a quarter-final trip to face Manchester United. Mitrovic put Fulham ahead early in the second half at Old Trafford, only for the tie to unravel dramatically after Willian was sent off for handling on the goal line. Bruno Fernandes converted the resulting penalty, and Mitrovic reacted furiously to the decision, shoving referee Chris Kavanagh and earning a red card of his own. Manchester United completed the turnaround to win 3-1, as chronicled by Sky Sports, and Mitrovic was later handed an eight-match ban that sidelined him for a significant stretch of the run-in, while Silva received a two-game touchline suspension of his own.

An Early EFL Cup Exit

The EFL Cup offered no such drama or consolation. Fulham suffered an early and humbling exit, losing 2-0 to League Two side Crawley Town in the second round, a result that stood as one of the campaign’s few genuine setbacks against lower-division opposition and a reminder that inconsistency still lingered beneath the surface of an otherwise encouraging season.

Individual Contributions Define the Season

Mitrovic remained the focal point of Fulham’s attack, scoring 14 goals in 24 Premier League appearances despite the suspension that cost him valuable matches down the stretch. Palhinha’s first season in England proved immediately influential, with his combative midfield presence becoming a defining feature of Silva’s setup and a key reason the team avoided the defensive collapses that had undone previous promoted sides. Willian, meanwhile, provided experience and moments of quality from wide areas, underlining the value of Fulham’s low-cost recruitment gamble, while Leno offered a settled presence between the posts after replacing the departing Marek Rodak as first-choice goalkeeper.

A Season That Redefined Fulham’s Ambitions By the time the season closed, Fulham had done more than simply survive. A tenth-place finish, a club-record goal tally, and a run to the FA Cup quarter-finals combined to reset expectations at Craven Cottage. The chaotic afternoon at Old Trafford became the season’s most talked-about moment, but it did not define the campaign’s legacy. Instead, Fulham’s 2022-23 season was remembered as the year the club finally shed its yo-yo reputation, proving that Silva’s rebuild was built for stability rather than a single bounce back to the top flight. The Cottagers had established themselves as a genuine Premier League club, with supporters able to look ahead to the following campaign with a confidence that had rarely been justified in previous stints among the elite.