Fulham FC was doomed.
After a powerful begin to the Premier League season, the membership’s luck had all however dried up. The fixture calendar had slapped Fulham with a troublesome run of fixtures — Spurs, Brighton, Arsenal and Liverpool in fast succession — and the temper across the membership was grim. Fulham appeared destined for an ignominious tumble.
As December ticked on, Fulham defied the percentages and held out towards its star-studded opponents. It drew 1-1 with Spurs after going behind. It smashed Brighton 3-1 at dwelling. It held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw, marking famed winger Bukayo Saka out of the sport completely. And eventually, towards all knowledge, it drew with first-placed Liverpool, lowering it to 10 males and pushing for a win till the ultimate whistle.
4 video games, 4 top-tier opponents, zero losses. Fulham might need entered December doomed, however it left it totally charmed.
The difference-maker? Antonee Robinson, the American full-back whose late-blooming Premier League profession could be the perfect factor to occur to the U. S. Males’s Nationwide Workforce in a era. It was Robinson who created Fulham’s targets towards Brighton; it was Robinson who rendered Saka a non-entity towards Arsenal. And crucially, in one of many most interesting particular person performances of the Premier League season, it was Robinson who took on Mohamed Salah and blunted Liverpool’s famed assault… all whereas creating two targets of his personal.
“What a efficiency,” said Fulham coach Marco Silva of Robinson after the Liverpool match. “It’s tough to place in phrases.”
