Fulham face survival fight but there are good omens for Claudio Ranieri
Claudio Ranieri faces an almighty battle to keep Fulham in the Premier League but he can draw hope from parallels with the 2007/08 season, when they completed their great escape under Roy Hodgson.
Fulham sit second from bottom in the table ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Manchester United, which is live on Sky Sports, having taken just 17 points from 25 games.
Ranieri needs Fulham to find form sooner rather than later, but he could do worse than to remind his players that Fulham recovered from a similar situation 11 years ago.
After 25 Premier League games of the 2007/08 season, Fulham had just 19 points on the board – only two more than they do now – but went on to win six of their remaining 13 games – including a famous run of four of their final five – to survive on goal difference.
As with Ranieri now, however, there was initially little evidence to suggest that Hodgson would be capable of saving them.
The Englishman had only won one of his first nine Premier League games in charge having taken over from Lawrie Sanchez in December of that season – an even worse start than Ranieri, who has won three of his first 13 games.
History suggests even a defeat to United on Saturday might not be fatal. Fulham may have had two more points than they do now at the same stage of the 2007/08, but they did win any of their following three games – a run which included a 3-0 loss to Manchester United.
If Fulham do manage to go on and survive this season, they would not be the first side to do it having only taken 17 points from their first 25 Premier League games.
West Brom had the same points total in 2004/05, going on to finish a point above the relegation zone under Bryan Robson, while Leicester recovered from the same position in 2014/15 under Nigel Pearson.
As Ranieri well knows, Leicester’s survival that year paved the way for their extraordinary Premier League title triumph under his watch in 2015/16.
It might be a bit of a stretch to expect the same miraculous turnaround from Fulham, but there is at least hope that Premier League survival might not be out of their reach quite yet.
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