Fulham

We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Fulham and Sunderland.

Here are some of your comments:

Fulham fans

Richard: Fulham will continue to struggle to score goals unless they strengthen their squad and buy another striker.

Will: Very important win. Should have scored many more as we tormented their backline, but the finishing was very poor. However, the pressure eventually paid off and our excellent home record continues.

Jeff: Not out of the woods and Marco Silva still needs to do more to earn his contract extension. I feel a parting of the ways suits both parties in the summer.

James: Fantastic performance! We deserved to score all game and thank goodness Jimenez got the winner. Hopefully, we can bring that form to Tottenham.

Sunderland fans

Dean: Sunderland looked tired and lacked a cutting edge in front of goal. Sadly lacked the passion of previous games.

Frank: Sunderland were second best, with Fulham looked fitter and stronger. That being said, the referee and his team gave nothing to Sunderland in any 50-50 situation, stopping an attack when a Fulham striker feigned a head injury to stop the momentum of a Sunderland break. One of the assistant referees was apparently showboating to the fans. You couldn't make it up.

David: For the first time this season, we looked like a newly promoted team. Very poor.

John: Thought we looked tired, but as usual, never gave up. Fulham were good value for their win. Hopefully, we will be able to recharge the batteries for next week's home game.

Michael Williams
Final Score reporter at Craven Cottage

Image source, Getty Images

The introduction of Emile Smith Rowe and Samuel Chukwueze midway through the second half helped swing this match decisively in Fulham's favour.

Replacing Josh King, Smith Rowe posed an immediate threat in front of goal, while on-loan winger Chukwueze provided a pinpoint cross for the only goal of the game late on.

The 26-year-old's deep ball from the left fell perfectly for the lunging Raul Jimenez, who managed to get the wrong side of Sunderland defender Dan Ballard and use his outstretched foot to poke it past Robin Roefs and into the back of the net.

It was a deserved three points for Fulham, who had failed to take a string of earlier chances in the game, Harry Wilson spurning several opportunities to open the scoring.

All of Chukwueze's five Premier League appearances for Fulham have come from the bench. After another impressive cameo, there will surely be a clamour for Marco Silva to play the AC Milan man from the start in Fulham's next match away at Tottenham on Saturday.

Pundits Wayne Rooney and Rob Green join host Mark Chapman to bring you the action and talking points from Saturday's Premier League fixtures.

Watch on BBC iPlayer here

And listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Newcastle 2-1 Manchester City

• Liverpool 0-3 Nottingham Forest

• Fulham 1-0 Sunderland

Fulham boss Marco Silva to Match of the Day: Tough as we expected. Doesn't matter who you play; it's always like that. We played a solid team and it was tough because we did not score. We create clear, clear chances in the first half. Second half not as many, but one or two good ones. I don't remember one chance from them. We controlled them very well. We won the game because we deserved it. We did not lose our concentration. It was a good performance.

On Samuel Chukwueze's performance from the bench: "Massive impact. On the right and the left. We try to play him on the left sometimes. He had a massive impact. We are seeing small spells for him. We are going to need him to have this type of impact, if possible, from the start of the match. He makes good decisions, and he is creative."

On getting results away from home: "It's crucial for us. It's about consistency. Home form has been really good. Third clean sheet at home, and we must try to replicate that on the road. It's something new for us this season. Last three seasons, we have been similar home and away. Let's hope soon we can have good results away from home."

Midfielder Alex Iwobi to Sky Sports: "Our home form has been really good. They're a tough side and they've been doing really well but we have belief that we can perform against anyone."

On the missed chances: "We created so many chances today. It was almost one of those where you wonder if it will ever go on. Credit to the lads, we kept on believing and thank god one of them went in."

On Fulham's form: "We don't fear anyone in the league. We give our respect to Sunderland. But now it's all about consistency for us to go and get the results we need."

On tactics: "In the week we were working on different ways to break down Sunderland. It was working, but we couldn't put the goal in the net. As long as we can keep clean sheets, then we'll always create chances to score."

Did you know?

• Fulham have won four of their last five Premier League home games (L1), as many victories as in their previous 15 such matches beforehand (D5 L6).

• Fulham had 24 shots against Sunderland, their most in a Premier League game this season (having been averaging 11 per game before today), while it's their most in a match that they scored one or fewer goals in the competition since January 2024 against Everton (25 shots, 0-0).

Emma Smith
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

If Fulham could find a way to more easily put the ball in the net, they would have no relegation concerns whatsoever.

On this basis, creating chances is not the problem. Fulham had 24 shots against Sunderland, their most in a Premier League game this season.

Having been averaging 11 per game before today, it was a real step up for Marco Silva's side. Harry Wilson was excellent, while Samuel Chukwueze elevated their attack after replacing the ineffectual Kevin.

But they never truly worked Robin Roefs with anything the Sunderland keeper would not expect to save, before Raul Jimenez became the hero.

Jimenez scored his first Premier League home goal of the season – 11 of his last 14 league goals have put Fulham ahead in matches.

With Rodrigo Muniz injured, Fulham may look for a new forward in January. It would certainly give them greater comfort and ease any pressure on Silva.

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

• Have your say on Fulham's performance

• What did you make of Sunderland's display?

Come back on Monday for a selection of your replies

Marco Silva makes just one change to the Fulham side beaten 2-0 at Everton before the international break, with teenager Josh King replacing the suspended Sasa Lukic in midfield.

Fulham XI: Leno; Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Sessegnon; Berge, King; Wilson, Iwobi, Kevin; Jimenez

Subs: Lecomte, Reed, Cairney, Traore, Cuenca, Kusi-Asare, Chukwueze, Castagne, Smith Rowe

Sunderland are unchanged from the side which earned a late 2-2 draw against Arsenal, with manager Regis Le Bris sticking to a 5-4-1 formation.

Sunderland XI: Roefs; Hume, Mukiele, Ballard, Geertruida, Reinildo; Traore, Xhaka, Sadiki, Le Fee; Isidor

Subs: Patterson, Neil, Talbi, Brobbey, Mayenda, O'Nien, Alderete, Adingra, Masuaku

There are seven games in the Premier League on Saturday and BBC Sport will bring you every moment.

• Burnley v Chelsea (12:30)

• Bournemouth v West Ham

• Brighton v Brentford

• Fulham v Sunderland - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

• Liverpool v Nottingham Forest - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• Wolves v Crystal Palace

• Newcastle v Manchester City (17:30) - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

Kick-off times 15:00 GMT unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction here

You can also listen to today's 5 Live Premier League commentaries on most smart speakers. Just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Liverpool v Nottingham Forest" or "ask BBC Sounds to play Newcastle v Man City", for instance.

Find out more about how to listen to Premier League football on BBC Sounds

This is a huge game for Fulham, who have lost five of their past six matches.

They have got lots of quality in their squad but it still feels like they could be sucked into a relegation battle.

As for Sunderland, well they are the surprise package of the Premier League season so far.

Their performance in the 2-2 draw with Arsenal last time out was superb. We've not seen anyone else rough up the Gunners like that this season, and Sunderland were more than a match for them.

The sensible thing to do would be to back the Black Cats here, because they are clearly capable of roughing Fulham up too and, the last time they were in west London, they beat Chelsea at the end of October.

But I am not going to do that. Instead, I really need to carry on going against Sunderland with my predictions. I am taking a lot of credit for their good results because they clearly love to prove me wrong.

Looking at Fulham's home record, the only team they have lost to is Arsenal. Marco Silva's side will be absolutely desperate for a positive result, so I am going to say they will pick up three much-needed points.

Sutton's prediction: 1-0

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Jordan Butler
BBC Sport journalist

An underperforming Fulham side host a high-flying Sunderland at Craven Cottage. BBC Sport examines some of the key talking points surrounding this clash.

Not many would have predicted Fulham to trail one of the three promoted sides by eight points almost a third of the way into this campaign.

However, some fans might suggest they have been going through the motions since the back end of last season. The Whites set a club record Premier League points total in 2024-25 with a tally of 54 but suffered seven defeats in their final 11 matches between March and May (won four).

A summer of minimal recruitment followed with just four players arriving and although the club's transfer record was broken with a £34.6m outlay on Brazilian winger Kevin, manager Marco Silva bemoaned what he called a "passive" approach during the transfer window.

After a decent start to this campaign the club have struggled over the past two months and five losses from their past six league games has them sitting a point above the drop zone in 15th.

Comforts of the Cottage

Four of those past five losses have come away and their sole victory was a 3-0 win over Wolves at Craven Cottage, which has become something of a fortress for Fulham this season. No side has earned a higher percentage of their Premier League points at home than Silva's side.

The Whites have been victorious in three of their past four home league matches, losing the other 1-0 to Arsenal, and given that four of their next seven are at Craven Cottage they will be expecting results to improve.

They are also unbeaten in their past 10 Premier League meetings with promoted opposition (won five, drawn five), winning the previous three in a row. The last time they triumphed in four consecutive matches against Premier League newcomers was 14 years ago.

Black Cats flying high

Sunderland fought back to snatch a deserved point against league leader Arsenal in their last Premier League outing two weeks ago.

Brian Brobbey's 94th-minute equaliser in that 2-2 draw was the first time the Gunners have conceded twice this season in any competition and it helped silence any doubts about Sunderland's ability to compete with the division's best sides.

The Black Cats remain unbeaten at home this term but results on the road have been more mixed for Regis le Bris and his side, with two wins, a draw and two losses from five away matches.

Both of those defeats came in the north west, but recent visits to London have proved less problematic. Sunderland are unbeaten in 14 away league games against sides from the capital, a run that includes a 2-1 win over Chelsea last month. However, their last defeat in the city was a 2-1 loss to Fulham at Craven Cottage in April 2018.

That triumph at Stamford Bridge means Sunderland could win back-to-back Premier League games in London within a single season for the first time since Peter Reid's side beat West Ham and Chelsea in March 2001.

Image source, Getty Images

The Premier League will from next season move to a new system of Financial Fair Play (FFP) based on squad costs.

The clubs met in London on Friday to vote on three possible methods of replacing Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) got 14 votes in favour and six against, which is the minimum number that is required to exact a rule change.

Overall squad costs from next season will have to be limited to 85% of a club's revenue, although teams competing in Europe will have to adhere to Uefa's maximum of 70%.

Squad costs comprise player and manager wages, transfer fees and agents' fees.

Rules around sustainability, which set out a club's financial spending plans over the medium and long term, were passed unanimously.

Read more about the news and what it means here

Tasnim Chowdhury
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

The Premier League has announced the start and end dates for the 2026-27 season.

The first round of fixtures will take place across the weekend of 22 August 2026 - a week later than previous seasons.

The later start allows rest time for players - 89 clear days from the end of this season, and 33 days from the 2026 World Cup final.

The Premier League said the delay was a "priority" for player welfare in an "increasingly congested global football calendar".

The final matches of the season will be played on Sunday, 30 May 2027, with all fixtures kicking off simultaneously as usual.

The season will end a week before the 2027 Champions League final, which will be on Saturday, 5 June.

There will be 33 weekend and five midweek fixtures - the same as the current season.

For the festive period, the Premier League have said no two match rounds will take place within 60 hours.

It has not been confirmed if there will be any fixtures on 24 December 2026.

However, as Boxing Day falls on a Saturday, the Premier League has said there will be more matches scheduled than this season, when there is only one.

Fulham boss Marco Silva has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Sunderland at Craven Cottage (kick-off 15:00).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Silva confirmed Rodrigo Muniz will be out "for a long time" after a hamstring injury before the international break: "I can give you more or less the timescale - in the middle of February, could be the time for him [to return]."

• Despite the setback, Silva backed other players to deliver for Fulham: "We suffered as a club before, when he got injured. We didn't have him and we have to go and help the boys that we have in the under-21s be ready to help the team. We have different solutions, players and wingers there."

• On whether Fulham will target a striker in January: "I don't yet want to go in the direction of saying that is something we have to get."

• There are no fresh injuries with Raul Jimenez fit and training as normal.

• However, full-back Antonee Robinson will be unavailable for the game but "trained with the team this morning".

• Silva had "nothing new" to say about a possible contract extension: "I'm grateful for the interest from the club. They know how I love to be in this football club. The Premier League is very hard, and I'm not an easy guy to deal with sometimes, because I'm very ambitious as well. Let's see what is going to be the news in the future. When you have something new to say, you are going to announce. Right now, nothing new to say about it."

• On Harry Wilson's flexibility after he scored three goals in Wales' 7-1 victory over North Macedonia: "He played a different position. Playing as a false nine is always another chance that we have, like we already use others if we need. He's flying right now."

• On the morale of his players that have been on international breaks: "Some of them come with completely different feelings. Some have another chance to go and to play the play-offs to be in the World Cup [while] others already qualified. You have different examples - players that lost a chance in penalty shootouts as well. It's part of the business."

• Finally, he said eighth-placed Sunderland "deserve the position they have right now" and praised their form since promotion in the summer: "It's a mix of everything: quality, a great job from the manager, some individual players, players with a lot of experience and achieving results."

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Listen to full commentary of Fulham v Sunderland from 15:00 on Saturday on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Pat Nevin
Former footballer and presenter

Image source, Getty Images

One of potentially the biggest moments in English football is coming on Friday, but precious few people understand how important it could be or even know about it.

The Premier League is considering 'anchoring' wages, which would cap the amount any club could spend on their squad at five times the smallest central Premier League broadcasting and prize money payout.

It is a complex argument. The league and some clubs are considering it because they want to ensure wage inflation does not continue to rise endangering their long-term financial security. From the other side - the players and their union, the PFA - this unnaturally limits the amount they can earn in what has until now been a free and open market.

Any changes to that position foisted upon the players without their prior consultation and agreement will not go down well. Remember, the players are the people that the paying public, the TV companies and the advertisers want to see, not a bunch of chairmen, executives and directors arguing over accounts, dividends and profit margins.

The game has increased the number of games played per season without consulting those who are physically doing it. No studies on how that will affect their health in the short and long term were considered, and so the PFA in England looks like it is finally ready to take a strong stand for its members.

Strike ballots are not unknown, I should know, as chairman of the PFA my name was on the bottom of every ballot paper when we last considered strike action over changes in working conditions. The modern owners may have forgotten, but we had 99% backing from our members.

Owners may think of footballers as ultra wealthy, mercenary, thickos who can easily be controlled - well they thought that last time and they lost.

It is time for serious and meaningful negotiation between equals and not a master and serf attitude from one side towards the other.

Sign up to read more from Pat Nevin in his Football Extra newsletter

Emlyn Begley
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

The Africa Cup of Nations kicks off earlier than usual this year, with up to 17 Premier League clubs set to be affected by players jetting off to host country Morocco.

The tournament runs from 21 December until 18 January.

There has been no official announcement about which date clubs will have to release their players by - and it could vary depending on agreements.

Players could miss up to six, or in some cases seven, Premier League matches - plus FA Cup and Carabao Cup games - if they reach the final.

The group stages end on 31 December, so quickly eliminated players may only miss half that amount.

Arsenal, Chelsea and Leeds do not have any players due to play in the 2025 Afcon - with Sunderland and Wolves losing the most players.

• Aston Villa - 1

• Bournemouth - 1

• Brentford - 2

• Brighton - 1

• Burnley - 3

• Crystal Palace - 1 to 4

• Everton - 2 to 3

• Fulham - 3

• Liverpool - 1

• Manchester City - 2

• Manchester United - 3

• Newcastle United - 0 to 1

• Nottingham Forest - 1 to 4

• Sunderland - 7

• Tottenham - 1 to 2

• West Ham United - 2

• Wolves - 5

Read the full article here to know which players will feature at Afcon

Drew Heatley
Fan writer

Which player is flying?: Ryan Sessegnon has been brilliant covering for Antonee Robinson at left-back. He has kept that attacking impetus on the left while stepping up the defensive side of his game.

Which player is floundering?: Calvin Bassey was our player of the season in 2024-25 but has found it tougher this time round, making a few high-profile errors that have cost us points.

Tactically I think we... need a plan B. Our success is dependent on the mix of our central midfield three. Josh King has been great in the 10, but our double pivot of Sander Berge and Sasa Lukic is too defensive and strips us of any creativity.

I want my manager to give me more... of Jonah Kusi-Asare because Marco Silva insists on only playing 35-year-old Raul Jimenez up top, and he is knackered. With Rodrigo Muniz out until at least February, Silva needs to forgo his misgivings about our young on-loan striker's inexperience and put him in the mix.

Our fans seem obsessed with... Silva's future. It is understandable as his deal runs out in the summer. We know Shahid Khan travelled to London last week to discuss Marco's future, but whether it came in the form of a warning over results or a plea to ink a new contract remains to be seen.

But they should be thinking about... how many points we can get before Christmas. Most of our points this season have come at Craven Cottage, and four out of our six games pre-Christmas are at home. We must use them to pull away from the pack.

My expectations for the season were... a top-half finish but are now (upper) bottom half. A strong start is essential for clubs like us if we want to make an impact. Our ambitions will have to be scaled back now, though we are still in the Carabao Cup.

Score for the season so far: 4/10.

One sentence on how you're feeling right now: We must do better, or risk undoing the progress made in the past three seasons.

Find more from Drew Heatley at Fulhamish, external

Harry Wilson's 13 goal contributions for ales in that time consists of nine goals and four assists.

It is comfortably more than any other player with Tottenham's Brennan Johnson next with seven.

Over the past week, we have been asking you to send in the best Premier League XI your club could have put together.

We know football existed before 1992 but as a Leeds United fan asked our experts on the club to name theirs - using the Ask Me Anything form on the Whites - we stuck with their parameters.

Here's BBC Sport's Fulham fan writer Drew's effort.

And you can ask us about the Cottagers using the Fulham Ask Me Anything form at the top of this page or here

Find more from Drew Heatley at Fulhamish, external

Image source, Getty Images

Fulham forward Harry Wilson is set to captain Wales for the first time in the country's final World Cup qualifier against North Macedonia on Tuesday night and ex-Wales striker Robert Earnshaw believes it is "perfect timing" for him to step up.

Regular captains Aaron Ramsey and Ben Davies are injured, while Ethan Ampadu - who led Wales in their 1-0 win against Liechtenstein - is suspended.

"Harry Wilson has become a key player for Wales over the last couple of years," Earnshaw explained on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast. "Firstly, he has grown into a goalscorer. Secondly, he is regularly playing in the Premier League at Fulham.

"He has found a team where he isn't going out on loan all the time, a team that appreciates him. Also, with Gareth Bale retiring and Aaron Ramsey in and out of the team, he has grown into a leader.

"Captaining the team against North Macedonia is going to be great for him, it is a great responsibility.

"In some ways, he has already been taking up a level of responsibility at international level anyway. Whether you look at this World Cup qualifying campaign or the last one, he has always been a key man.

"He has really grown into a top player so I think it is perfect timing for him to step up. I'm really looking forward to seeing him do it."

Listen to the full podcast on BBC Sounds

We have, roughly, run the numbers and here is the XI your submissions have produced.

There's a distinctly mid-2000s flavour to this Fulham side, perhaps not a surprise given the perennial success of that side under first Jean Tigana and then Chris Coleman and Roy Hodgson.

Back Aleksandr Mitrovic and Louis Saha to score a bucketful of goals while current wing-back Antonee Robinson will bring pace and athleticism to the ever-reliable defence from that era.

We reckon this side would have plenty of fun in the Premier League.