What a difference 12 months can make! Over a year on from our disastrous 3-1 defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage last September, the two clubs’ trajectories seem to be turning out rather different this season. Beesotted contributor Matthew Milne serves up his latest article with a focus on our contrasting fortunes this campaign so far.

That frustrating, bordering on infuriating night at the Cottage was one of last campaign’s very few lows. In one of our biggest games of the season, we performed pitifully – gaffe-ridden in defence, a dysfunctional mess all over the park and toothless in attack on a night to forget. That evening, Fulham were stronger, hungrier and simply looked like they wanted it more. I do sincerely apologise if I have brought back painful memories of that dreadful night.

That Fulham disasterclass could have been a defining moment for Keith Andrews and the club. Yet, if you asked me as I exited Craven Cottage after the game what the lie of the West London land would look like in another year’s time, I wouldn’t have believed you if you had told me that the Bees would be excitedly buzzing and Fulham would be badly floundering.

Of course, our previous visit to the Cottage hadn’t gone much better – the Bees going down to a 2-1 deficit, thanks to stoppage-time goals from Fulham’s arrogant little playmaker, Harry Wilson. Sorry for bringing that up again too – we will all be having nightmares tonight!

Well, fast-forward almost two years later and our old friend, karma, has struck once again, much to the disgust of our near neighbours.

Last Saturday, whilst a much, much improved Bees side were battling hard to earn a very credible point at Villa Park – thanks to a superb rearguard action and another magnificent showing from our hard-working midfielders both defensively and offensively – karma decided that it was now Fulham’s turn to be on the wrong end of a dramatic late comeback.

Leading by a goal to nil late on in a massive six-pointer at Ipswich, things were going swimmingly for the Whites. That was until two goals in 4 minutes dramatically swung the game in the Tractor Boys’ favour and left Fulham stranded at the bottom of the table. Yes, even below Spurs! Cue a major backlash from the Fulham faithful, with poor old ex-Real Madrid player and coach Alvaro Arbeloa – now head coach at Fulham, but probably not for much longer – well and truly in the firing line.

Our beloved friends at Fulhamish – the Cottagers’ main fan channel – were once so smug, but they are now so dour and dreary, and have been pulling poor Alvaro to pieces. They have described his system as ‘a toothless mess’, called his pressing tactics and substitutions into question and criticised his naivety and lack of communication skills, amid several squabbles going on behind the scenes.

Alvaro, however, is not too worried. He said last week that he had ‘played for the best team in the world’ and recently ‘coached the best team in the world’. At this rate, he will soon be coaching the worst team in Premier League history. He also went on to say that he could handle the pressure, telling reporters that it had been ‘a part of his life since he was a kid’ and that he loved it. An argument not holding much weight – having decided to avoid the ire of those in the away end at Portman Road last Saturday and instead choosing to walk straight down the tunnel come the full-time whistle. Soon, the only thing he will be handling is his P45.

Of course, things could have been way different. If only Fulham had done more to persuade Marco Silva and our customary pain in the neck, Harry Wilson, to stay and avoided the questionable sales of Issa Diop and Sasa Lukic (quite aptly) to Ipswich in the summer and weren’t messing around trying to find their lost wallet all through the transfer window, before finally locating it just in time for deadline day and hurriedly splashing the cash on anyone desperate enough to sign for them before the end of the window.

However, whichever way you look at it, is it really too surprising we both are where we are right now? The major differences being, one club has a brilliant owner, a fantastic culture throughout the club, a high-quality and hard-grafting group of players – all brought together by a much-lauded and dedicated recruitment team and masterminded by an ex-set-piece coach turned manager, who doesn’t need to make outlandish, cocky and brazen statements, but has instead grown into his new role with aplomb (as perfectly shown by last Saturday at Aston Villa) and now stands confidently on his own two feet in the centre of the dugout. Fulham, in the meantime, have none of that.

However, the biggest difference is we have a well-thought-out plan from top to bottom that is respected and embraced by everyone at the club. Fulham, on the other hand, don’t even appear to have the paper to write the plan on, let alone have one in mind, so you have to ask yourself: what do Fulham fans expect?

So far this season, the Cottage has become the house of horrors and Hull have the opportunity to deliver the next fiendish fright there this Saturday and perhaps put poor Alvaro out of his misery. Who may be next to replace him in the Fulham hot seat, I hear you ask? Well, there is a long-serving ex-Brentford coach and legend hailing from Denmark going free. You surely can’t go there, Thomas?

With this Saturday’s match against Liverpool on the horizon, it feels like a great opportunity to get yet another fine result over the Reds.

Having picked up a red card in the much-hyped, but in the end rather underwhelming, face-off with Manchester City last weekend, defensive midfielder Ryan Gravenberch is scheduled to be out for this game. Liverpool were also without the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai, Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak for that City game, and there is a good chance that they could still be missing for this weekend’s clash with the Bees at the Gtech – a big, but not necessarily decisive, advantage. The Reds still have plenty of dangerous players spread out across the park, which I have no doubt we will be able to try and combat.

Liverpool did have a midweek Champions League fixture this week – trashing LASK in northern Austria on Wednesday, which showed us all how dangerous they can be on their day.

That Manchester City thrashing was Andoni Iraola’s first defeat as the new Liverpool manager – having joined from Bournemouth over the summer – and was his first loss in 24 Premiership games.

As for ourselves, it is important that we get Kevin Schade back from hopefully a minor injury for this game – he could really make a big difference in the outcome of this match. It would also be good to see Igor Thiago get on the scoresheet again soon, having been marked out of the game up at Villa Park. It will also be interesting to see whether Mathias Jensen comes back into the starting line-up this weekend and, if so, whether Keith will decide to move KLP back to his usual left-back role or keep Malick Diouf in that position, having put in a very impressive showing against Villa. Also, if Jannik Schuster is back and available, will Keith decide to stick with the same centre-half pairing or twist, with Sepp van den Berg back on the bench? We will just have to wait and see come 1:45 pm on Saturday.

Personally, I would take a point this weekend, which would keep our 8-game unbeaten run in the league going. However, we most definitely have a very good opportunity to try and get all three and stun the Reds on our home patch once more.

COYB!!!!

Matthew Milne