Fulham’s pre-season is officially over, and all eyes are now cast on their Premier League opening clash against Chelsea but how are the Cottagers looking?
The Cottagers have the perhaps unfortunate, perhaps fortunate scenario of waiting for all other teams to play before they take on Chelsea at Craven Cottage on Monday, August 24.
That allows for a full week of training still to come ahead of that clash and Alvaro Arbeloa will no doubt have some tweaks to make from what he has seen in the six pre-season matches to date.
But, in a pre-season campaign that has seemingly gone on forever, with Fulham playing six matches in three different countries and with three behind closed doors, just how are Fulham looking as things stand?
Wing-backs vital
In pre-season it became abundantly clear just how important wingbacks are going to be in Alvaro Arbeloa’s system.
Under Marco Silva, they of course had their moments, but the attacking was primarily done by the front four players.
Under Arbeloa, that is certainly different.
The Spaniard as we know likes the wing-backs to provide the width, with the wingers almost inverting to create what can sometimes be a 2-3-4-1 shape in attack.
And it is clear that the players Fulham have at their disposal are able to do that, with goals and assists coming from Antonee Robinson, Ryan Sessegnon and Timothy Castagne in pre-season.
Should that translate to the Premier League, those three, and Kenny Tete, are going to be mightily important to Fulham’s aims.
New signings show signs but more to come
Gonzalo Garcia has not quite made his mark yet but it is clear that Fulham have a good striker on their hands there.
Shea Charles too looks at the very least extremely dependable.
The player who has created the most buzz since joining has been Cesar Palacios, without a doubt.
His ability to play long balls as if he is having a kickabout in the park is exactly what made him such an attractive option in the first place to Arbeloa.
He feels like someone who could be really exciting to watch over the next season, while Charles and Garcia have also clearly shown in their limited moments that they are also exciting additions to the squad.
Defensive consistency
After a lot of talk about changes to the defence, it would appear that Fulham are set to go into the new season with the exact same back four and goalkeeper as they ended the last season with.
And that is no bad thing at all.
Consistency at the back is hugely important and with Bernd Leno a reliable man in goal and both Calvin Bassey and Joachim Andersen understanding each other so well, that is a big positive for Arbeloa.
As is the fact that the wing-backs at the club’s disposal are as effective as they are - Fulham look very solid in that department.
Iwobi to be new talisman?
There has been a lot of worry this summer, including on my part, about who would step up to the plate in the absence of Harry Wilson.
Well, after two goals and two assists in pre-season and with the abiliity to play in so many positions, it would appear that man could be Alex Iwobi.
The Nigerian midfielder was already an important member of the team - could this be the year that he makes that extra step up?
