Has the international break come at a good time or a bad time for Fulham?

After seven matches of mixed results, Fulham take a step backwards for the international break.

A season that started with difficult defeats against Chelsea, Sunderland and Crystal Palace saw the first block before the international break end with positive results against Liverpool and Manchester United.

The Carabao Cup has been Fulham’s primary success story of this season, though, picking up wins over AFC Wimbledon and West Ham, and they have a last-16 tie against Palace at Craven Cottage to look forward to at the end of next month.

In the interim, though, there is a three-week international break, which inevitably has come at good times for some teams looking to await the return to fitness of certain injured players or to reset after disappointing defeats.

The latter would surely apply to Arsenal, after their 3-0 loss to Brighton, and Chelsea, who fell to a defeat of the same scoreline against Brentford.

But for Fulham, has this international break come at a good time or a bad time?

In many ways, it almost feels like this break has come right at the time when Fulham were starting to find their groove a bit.

The final week before the break saw them scoop up credible draws against both Liverpool and Manchester United, while they also beat West Ham in the middle.

The combination of those three results is a team beginning to come into some sort of form, and from that perspective, this break could hardly come at a worse time.

But, on the flip side, a few weeks away from the inevitable mental fatigue that a difficult start to the Premier League inevitably brings is probably no bad thing for those in the Fulham squad.

And, Fulham’s players must come back feeling refreshed after the break, because the Cottagers go into matches against Ipswich, Hull and Coventry, matches you feel they will need to pick up at least six points in.

As many as 12 of the Fulham squad are involved in the international break for various nations across the globe and so they will be playing but at least can be distracted from club football.

Those not involved you would hope have been afforded the luxury of a holiday and time to reset after an intense start to the season.

Then, it will be time to get back to Motspur Park and really focus on that clash with Ipswich, a match which really does feel extremely important.

So, to answer the original question I posed for this article, I would say that the international break has probably not come at the best time for Fulham - but it is up to Alvaro Arbeloa to make the most of the time they have with no matches - use it to your advantage and it can be quite a powerful tool to get the Cottagers firing in October and beyond.