Fulham can avoid imperfect hat-trick with Silva bullet

Fulham and Marco Silva will hope to make a success of what will be fourth bites of the Premier League cherry for both team and manager.

It was wholly appropriate that Fulham’s promotion back to the Premier League was confirmed in a victory secured early and with the minimum of fuss. In many ways, the 3-0 triumph over Preston was indicative of a season combatted with overwhelming firepower and victories aplenty.

It would be easy to suggest that Fulham have only met expectations rather than exceeded them – mainly because that’s true – but it is no less cause for celebration, nor any fewer sighs of relief, that a Championship campaign which has seen many big teams falter has been expertly navigated.

Fulham were expected to go up. Fulham were expected to be champions. Expectation and reality are scarcely the same thing in the second tier of English football. But at no time this season have Fulham looked like failing. Even around the time of their Christmas and New Year wobble, it was Bournemouth who were being caught up while the Cottagers remained homely at the top of the table.

Both Fulham and manager Marco Silva have the chance to right their Premier League wrongs of recent years. Nine months ago, before a ball had been kicked, we described this appointment as a chance to rectify mistakes and restore reputations for both club and individual; with three games of the season remaining, that has proven to be a masterstroke.

But the next step is the one that counts. Falling at the first hurdle has been avoided. That was the best they could do this season. Next up is when it really counts: making it work in the top flight. This will be Fulham’s fourth taste of the Premier League after a decade-long debut stretch followed by two