Fulham 3-0 Preston: Cottagers BACK in the Premier League after victory

The familiar elation of Championship promotion for Fulham - only this time they took the easy route.

Their last two elevations to the Premier League have been accompanied by the nail-biting tension of the play-offs. This time they have dominated the division, galloping clear from mid-January.

Marco Silva’s side got over the line with this rampant win over Preston. Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a double to move within two of equalling Guy Whittingham’s post-1992 second-tier scoring record of 42 goals in a season.

Fabio Carvalho was also on target at a jubilant Craven Cottage, with the ‘olés’ that greeted every Fulham pass starting well before half-time.

After three promotions and two relegations in five seasons, the million dollar question now is whether Fulham can finally re-establish themselves in the big time.

A certain amount of squad strengthening will be required to shed their yo-yo reputation but it will be a shame to see them totally sacrifice the wonderfully fluent style Silva has encouraged this season.

They had already squandered one opportunity to seal promotion, losing having been a goal ahead at Derby on Friday night.

Fulham (4-2-3-1): Rodak; Williams, Adarabioyo, Ream, Bryan; Cairney (c), Reed (Seri 70); Wilson, Carvalho (De Cordova-Reid 75), Kebano; Mitrovic (Muniz 77)

Substitutes not used: Gazzaniga (GK); Hector, Chalobah, Robinson

Manager: Marco Silva

Scorers: Mitrovic 9, 41; Carvalho 34

Booked: Cairney

Preston North End (3-1-4-2): Iversen; Van den Berg, Lindsay, Hughes; Potts (Sinclair 69); McCann, Whiteman, Johnson (c), Earl (Diaby 46); Evans (Maguire 25), Archer

Substitutes not used: Hudson (GK); Cunningham, Rafferty, Huntington

Manager: Ryan Lowe

Booked: Whiteman

Referee: Leigh Doughty

And there were