Season Preview - Fulham

Last season: 16th, 39 points; FA Cup fifth round; Carling Cup second round

Transfers:

In: Diomansy Kamara (West Brom, £6m); Chris Baird (Southampton, £3.02m); Paul Konchesky (West Ham, £2m); David Healy (Leeds, £1.5m); Aaron Hughes (Aston Villa, £1m); Steve Davis (Aston Villa, £4m); Lee Cook(QPR, £2.5m)

Out: Heidar Helguson (undisc); Tomasz Radzinski, Mark Pembridge, Claus Jensen (all released)
Fulham gave a pretty decent account of themselves on the opening day of the season at the Emirates Stadium and were rather unlucky to go down to 2 late strikes.

Official Website: http://www.fulhamfc.com

Official Kit:

Last season Fulham just managed a paltry 39 points and just managed to stay up because of a vital winning strike from Clint Dempsey against a depleted Liverpool squad. Else it could have been Fulham chasing West Ham round the courts and not Sheffield.

Manager Lawrie Sanchez will begin his first full year in charge of the Cottagers with a revamped roster studded with more than half a dozen Northern Ireland players.

Summer recruits include Aaron Hughes, Chris Baird, Steven Davis, and David Healy - all played under him for Northern Ireland, and striker Diomansy Kamara and versatile defender Paul Konchesky came to Craven Cottage this summer as well.

Attacking options are limited but Sanchez would be looking at improving their defense – they were tied for the most goals allowed in the Premiership last year (60).

Schedule via English Soccer Talk:

Fulham's schedule appears to be quite easy. There's a five-game tough stretch that covers all of November and into December that brings road games at Manchester United, Liverpool, and Everton, as well as home games with Reading and Blackburn. January will be tricky as well, but Chelsea and Arsenal both come to Craven Cottage and Fulham have winnable road matches at Bolton and West Ham.

There are no runs of games of any real length other than those two so Fulham will have every chance to at least challenge for a top half position, though that seems unlikely.

EPL08.com prediction:
League Position – 16
Fulham were lucky to survive last season, mainly courtesy of a win against a pretty depleted Liverpool side. New manager Lawrie Sanchez has brought in a host of Northern Ireland players.

I expect the Cottagers to struggle this season too - though Sanchez might just be able to survive the drop.