Rise of a Football God

The highlights of Matchday 25 of the English premier league were clear.

First was Chelsea's shock defeat to Brighton. Having climbed all the way to 2nd position in the league already, eclipsing Fulham, a lot of people predicted Chelsea to push Liverpool all the way till the end of the season.

Nobody expected them to fumble and lose their 2nd position easily.

Another highlight was Fulham's dominant display against Nottingham Forest. This season, Nottingham Forest was in impressive form as even despite the defeat, they still occupied 6th position in the premier league table.

This was why the manner in which Fulham dismantled them was so unnerving to neutral onlookers. It was a statement win from Fulham.

They looked a scary proposition to any side currently.

Matchday 25 was not the end of the world though. After the matchday, time moved like usual, shortening the timeframe to future matchups.

The premier league race was already ramping up in its second half.

But thankfully for Fulham, after the Nottingham Forest game, they had a run of 3 premier league games that was favorable to them on paper.

(Premier league:)

(Fulham – Crystal Palace)

(Date: 22nd February, 2025)

…

(Wolves – Fulham)

(Date: 25th February, 2025)

…

(Brighton – Fulham)

(Date: 8th March, 2025)

In between the 3 premier league games, on 2nd March, Fulham had another game, their FA Cup fifth round game.

(FA Cup fifth round:)

(Fulham – Aston Villa)

(Date: 2nd March, 2025)

Fo the 4 games that Fulham had during this time; the FA Cup game was poised to be the most difficult simply because Aston Villa looked the better team on paper compared to the 3 others.

And also because it was a cup game.

Losing meant crashing out of the competition, Fulham could not afford to lose against Aston Villa.

For the next few days, locked in for the new year already, the Fulham players trained hard as they prepared for their first of the 4 fixtures.

On 22nd February, they finally welcomed Crystal Palace to Fulham.

For this game, due to the fact that he was just recovering from the niggling injury he suffered against Nottingham Forest, Muniz started as the striker ahead of Raul Jimenez.

The rest of the team was the same one that faced Nottingham Forest last time out. And of course, Crystal Palace also started with their best lineup.

Starting in their 3-4-2-1 formation, Dean Henderson started in between the posts while the defensive trio ahead of him comprised of Trevor Chalobah, Lacroix, and Richards.

The 4-man midfield comprised of Munoz, Hughes, Lerma, and Mitchell. As for the 3-man offense, Ismaila Sarr and Eberechi Eze started in the wings slightly behind Juan Mateta who started as the striker.

The atmosphere for this game was electric and after the referee's whistle sounded, the dynamo of energy gathered in this game triggered.
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Despite playing in away ground, during the first few minutes of this game after kickoff, Crystal Palace dominated possession, pressuring Fulham as they were forced to defend.

And then, incredulously, the visitors got the first goal.

It came from the electric midfielder, Lerma leaping above every Fulham player as he powered a header into the net, giving his team the lead in the 23rd minute of this game to change the narrative.

That goal only riled up the Fulham fans, making them make louder noise.

Riding the energy of the home supporters, it took some time but Fulham finally started pressuring their opponents as they regained authority over the game.

Despite everything, Fulham failed to get an equalizing goal in the first half.

During half-time, Coach Marco Silva did not hold back as he attacked some of his places, criticizing their stupid moments in the first half that resulted in the Crystal Palace goal. He urged his players to play better in the second half.

FWEEEE!

Just 5 minutes into the second half, Calvin Bassey ended up being the unlikely goal scorer as he powered a header into the net.

It was an end-to-end game between both teams.

After that goal, the situation on the pitch opened up as both teams played their hearts out. The Fulham offense struggled to tick this game till the dying minutes when an electric Antonee Robinson, the Fulham fullback came to the rescue.

After a marauding run with the ball from left back, this fullback scored a rocket goal, powering his shot towards the top right corner as it beat Dean Henderson to finally give his team the lead.

"GOALLLL…!!!" The home supporters in Craven Cottage heaved a collective sigh of relief as they roared at the top of their lungs in ecstasy.

That goal won Fulham the game.

The focus of the media after the game though was not on Fulham winning, but on how much they struggled against Crystal Palace.

Cairney, Fulham's captain volunteered for the post-match interview and like expected, he faced a few difficult questions.

"Captain, a lot of people believe that your team won by a fluke today. Besides, Sam was a shadow of himself today on the pitch, what do you think is wrong?"

The Fulham captain was calm as he faced the reporters. "Football is not as easy as talking like you all think".

"Sam is just recovering from an injury, of course he needs a few games to get back to his best".

"Sam is still an amazing player still; all he need is time to get back to his best".

"As for those who think our winning was a fluke," this captain smirked. "My word to them is, if winning by a fluke is so easy, why didn't their team win?"

"Just know that we're going on a winning streak!"

With that, this captain walked out of the interview like a Chad.

Fulham won but the spotlight on them was a negative one as the media paid attention to their struggles instead. But used to this already, the Fulham players knew not to pay too much attention to it as they focused on their next game.

…

By shutting the noise out, time moved fast to the Fulham players and in no time, it was D-day again.

On 25th January, Fulham traveled to Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton.