The FPL half-term report: Fulham

All 20 Premier League clubs’ seasons so far are analysed as the countdown to the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) restart continues.

In this Half-Term Report series, we look at which FPL players and teams have had an A* opening three months and who returned a big fat F.

FPL bosses get unlimited transfers before Gameweek 17, so these articles will hopefully help you pinpoint some key targets for the Boxing Day resumption.

Here, we focus on one of the three sides to come up from the Championship in 2021/22, Fulham.

ATTACK: SEASON SO FAR

Fulham’s success so far – and ninth place is unquestionably a success – has been predicated on their attack.

Marco Silva’s side were promoted from the English second tier with a reputation for forward-thinking football, having scored 106 goals in their title-winning campiagn.

Right from the opening weekend, when the Cottagers drew 2-2 with Liverpool, they have continued with an attacking mindset.

Ranked top half for all of the metrics we have listed above, they signed off for the World Cup break by averaging the seventh-best minutes-per-NPxG figure (70.8) from Gameweeks 11-16:

Above: How Fulham compare to other Premier League sides for minutes per NPxG across 2022/23 (click to expand)

That aptitude for goalscoring has kept them in most of the matches they have contested, only twice losing by a margin of more than one goal. In one of those two games (1-4 v Newcastle United) they were reduced to 10 men very early on, and in the other (1-3 v West Ham United) they only conceded their third goal in stoppage time after chasing an equaliser.

Fulham have faced all of the current top seven already and none of them have prevented Silva’s troops from scoring.

Home comforts haven’t mattered too much on the surface, with the Cottagers averaging 1.75 goal per game in west London versus 1.43 on the road. But their ‘expected’ figures are imbalanced, with an NPxG of 10.17 at home v 5.91 away (admittedly having played one game more at Craven Cottage).

DEFENCE: SEASON SO FAR

Much less impressive has been Fulham’s defence.

They are, quite simply, the worst side in the Premier League for xGC, with their average of 3.53 big chances conceded per game also comfortably rock bottom.

Above: How Fulham compare to other Premier League sides for minutes per NPxGC across 2022/23 (click to expand)

It’s partly thanks to Bernd Leno (£4.5m) that the goals conceded column isn’t as bad.

The German has kept out 2.70 more goals than he was ‘expected’ to ship, based on Opta’s figures.

The chance and goal concessions have happened no matter the venue: even at home, no side has allowed more goals, shots in the box or big chances than the Cottagers.

BIGGEST GOAL THREATS