Free Scoring Fulham Could Be Set to Break Records This Season
It has been an excellent start to the season for Fulham. Following 18 games into the 2021/2022 Championship campaign, they top the standings with 41 points, putting them in a strong position to make an immediate return to the Premier League. Marco Silva’s side have been very clinical in front of the goal this season: through those opening 18 Championship fixtures, they have scored 48 times. That’s 15 goals more than the next best team in the standings, Bournemouth.
Promotion will be the number one aim for the Cottagers at the end of the campaign, which is attainable given that they are currently priced at 1/14 in the Championship betting odds to achieve this very feat. Ideally, they will want to go up in style. The West London club are staked at 1/2 odds to do it as champions.
Fulham’s 4-1 victory over Barnsley brought up a stretch of seven victories in the Championship. It also left Fulham fans optimistic that their side could very well make history this season, following in the footsteps of other Championship greats. Here are some examples of the most acclaimed records set by Championship teams and players in recent years.
Reading 106 points (2005/2006)
The most points a team have picked up in a Championship season was 106. This was achieved by Reading in the 2005/2006 campaign. The Royals were very dominant during that season, winning 31 of their 46 games and finishing 16 points clear of second-placed Sheffield United.
Reading got off to a flying start that season as they went on a 33-game unbeaten run from the beginning of the campaign until February when they were beaten by Luton Town. Although Fulham won’t be able to match that start, they will be hoping for something similar to finish the season. Steve Coppell’s team wrapped up promotion as early as the 25th March when they drew 1-1 with Leicester City.
Ivan Toney’s 31 goals
Brentford’s Ivan Toney broke the record for the most goals scored in a season in the Championship era when he netted 31 times for the Bees during the 2020/2021 campaign. It is expected that Aleksandar Mitrovic will defy this impressive tally this season. The Serbian looks well poised to smash that record as he has already scored 21 goals in 18 Championship appearances this season. If he carries on in his current form and rate of scoring, he could very well even reach the 40 goals mark.
Mitrovic recently helped his country qualify for the World Cup, set to be played in Qatar next year, scoring the winner against Portugal to book a spot at the tournament. The striker is likely to attract interest in January when the transfer window opens, so the Cottagers will need to work hard to keep hold of their lucky talisman.
Club Record Best Win
Fulham have already produced a 7-0 success this season in the Championship. They defeated Blackburn 7-0 at Ewood Park in an emphatic victory. There could be more lopsided scorelines in the Cottagers’ favour later in the campaign.
The best league win ever recorded in Fulham’s history is a 10-1 success over Ipswich Town in 1963, which came in a Division 1 contest. It will take something special to better that, however, as they showed against Blackburn, Silva’s side can be ruthless when they get going.
There is a lot for Fulham fans to be excited about this season. All signs are pointing to the fact that it may just end up as one of the best campaigns in their history.
