Can Fulham survive in the Premier League this time?

Every season the race for the Premier League is full of drama, excitement and often tension. But this year, Fulham have pulled so far clear of the competition they have declared themselves winners with four games to spare.

The prize? A place in the Premier League for the 2022/23 season.

Their points tally, 86, is enough to canter over the finish line safe in the knowledge automatic promotion is guaranteed. But the race, in truth, is only half run.

After spending 13 consecutive seasons in the Premier League between 2001-2014, Fulham's fortunes have been somewhat less stable in recent years, with their last five campaigns ending in either promotion or relegation.

No one can question Fulham's bounce-back ability. The pattern is consistent. Relegation woe is followed by the joy of immediate promotion.

And once again it's only taken the London outfit one season of Championship football to realise their potential as a first-tier club, but questions over their longevity remain.

Here we look at how Fulham can ditch their yo-yo past in favour of a sustained run as a genuine Premier League entity.

With promotion now mathematically secure Marco Silva will have one eye, or possibly even two, on next season.

In Silva, Fulham have a leader with Premier League knowhow. In both top-flight forays of recent memory, they have been led by managers who lacked such experience.

His Premier League win percentage (35.71) may be somewhat underwhelming, but counts for something given his predecessors - Slavisa Jokanovic and Scott Parker - started their respective top-flight campaigns on zero.

Fulham have also led the Championship since mid-January and despite suffering a delay to their promotion parade with a few rogue results - notably against