Fulham have quietly and confidently gone about establishing themselves as one of the most consistent sides in the Premier League in recent years under the guidance of Portuguese manager Marco Silva.
The Cottagers sit eighth in the Premier League following seasons of 10th and 13th after promotion from the Championship in 2022, frequently refreshing a talented squad with smart recruitment after a number of big-money sales in the past few transfer windows.
The West London outfit are no strangers to taking big scalps from the country's biggest teams, most recently knocking Manchester United out of the FA Cup at Old Trafford.
Former Fulham talisman showers praise on 'impressive' Marco Silva
Silva has helped to buck the trend of promoted sides struggling to survive in the Premier League in recent years - incidentally, all three promoted sides in 2022 currently sit in the top half of the table.
According to former Fulham striker Louis Saha, Silva's work in recent years has propelled him to the title of the best manager in London, beating Chelsea's Enzo Maresca and Arsenal's Mikel Arteta to the crown.
"I think so, yeah," Saha told Genting Casino when asked if Silva was the best manager in the capital right now.
"But Chelsea's manager had a big, big task to get them up there at the start of the season. I didn't see this coming. I felt like Chelsea were struggling because there were too many players. There are too many players, too many combinations. So I felt like it would have been really hard, but he's done really well too. To accomplish that and manage to get those players to not only play together but play well.
"Some games they are really playing some attractive football and I'm very impressed. Because it was a hell of a job. Fulham has been consistently playing well with their squad. It’s a good squad, but they don’t have the same capacity in terms of buying power.
"Marco Silva has done really well to maintain that quality and even improve the type of style that they play. It's really strong defensively. Silva managed to really maintain the desire to play attractive football, which was really hard over the years."
He added: "Fulham never had this type of consistency with any manager they had, so I can applaud with my biggest admiration. Yeah, it's a great, great job."
Fulham's next match e to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup quarter-final before a trip to the Emirates next week.
