2022/23 IN NUMBERS

WE DISSECT THE NUMBERS BEHIND FULHAM’S RECORD BREAKING 2022/23 CAMPAIGN.

Premier League statistics, only.

The 2022/23 season is one which will go down in history for Fulham Football Club. While we were a couple of points shy of breaking our record of 53 in a Premier League campaign, we did win more total matches (15), more away matches (7) and score more goals (55) than ever before.

On a personal note, it was also a landmark season for Aleksandar Mitrović. His previous best return in England’s top-flight was 11 goals, a figure he bettered by three this time around as he ended on 14.

And when you consider that he only started 23 matches in the Premier League, it’s an even more impressive statistic, with his goals-per-game ratio of 0.6 bettered only by Erling Haaland and Harry Kane.

Furthermore, only five players had more shots than Mitro’s 93, with every one of them seeing considerably more game time than our number nine. He also scored more headed goals (6) than five teams managed – Chelsea, Bournemouth, Everton, Leicester and Wolves.

Following Mitrović in the Fulham scoring charts was Brazilian duo Carlos Vinicius and Willian with five goals each, while attacking midfielders Bobby De Cordova-Reid, Andreas Pereira and Manor Solomon bagged four apiece.

29 players represented Fulham in the Premier League this season. Of those, Harrison Reed appeared in the most matches (37) – with a suspension for the home meeting with Manchester United the only fixture he missed. However, following his return to action, Reed did not pick up another card in his subsequent 23 outings, having received five yellows in his first 14.

It was also Reed’s most productive season in black and white in terms of goal involvements, scoring three and assisting a further four.

Andreas Pereira, Tom Cairney and Tim Ream were all on course for ever present seasons until they suffered injuries.

Bernd Leno and João Palhinha were key performers for Fulham this year. Leno played every second after taking over from Marek Rodák two games into the season, while the only time Palhinha did not start was when he was suspended.

Therefore, the pair ended up seeing more action than anyone else at the Club, with Leno between the sticks for 3,240 minutes, and Palhinha playing 3,113.

The pair also posted some notable individual numbers, with Leno’s 144 saves bettered only by David Raya (who played in two more matches), while nobody could come close to Palhinha’s 147 tackles – Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo was closest with 100. Palhinha also topped the duels won charts, with 282.

There was much more to Palhinha’s game than winning possession, with his 1,267 passes across the season putting him fifth in that category for Fulham. Marco Silva’s philosophy of building from the back evidenced by the fact that the top four here were all defenders.

On the subject of tackles, Kenny Tete came eighth in terms of most tackles made amongst all Premier League players with 83. However, he was only dribbled past on 12 occasions, giving him a tackle success rate of 87.4%, which was the highest in the division.

Tete was also a huge threat going forward, registering five assists – a number which would have been greater had Dan James’ control not touched an Everton player as he collected the Dutchman’s long pass en route to scoring our third goal at Goodison Park.

Nonetheless, those assists ranked him third behind Willian and Andreas when it came to setting up teammates.

While Fulham scored 55 goals, we actually recorded an expected goals (xG) total of just 47, meaning we did considerably better in front of goal than the chances suggested.

Just six teams in the entire league outperformed their xG across the 38 games, with only Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur outscoring their xG by more than Fulham’s 8.

The other two sides – Liverpool and Brentford – only marginally outscored their xG, with 1.5 and 1, respectively.

Andreas and Willian were two of the main reasons why Fulham were so good going forward. Andreas was actually unfortunate not to have posted even better numbers, with only Bruno Fernandes, Erling Haaland, Darwin Nunez, Son Heung-min and Ollie Watkins hitting the woodwork more times than his four.

Fulham did the double over no fewer than five teams in 2022/23. Relegated sides Southampton, Leicester City and Leeds United all suffered home and away against the Whites, as did Nottingham Forest and – perhaps most impressively – Brighton & Hove Albion.

Results against those sides accounted for 57.7% of our total points last season.

Other little statistical nuggets to emerge from the campaign include nobody clearing the ball off the line more than Tim Ream (four, tied with Thiago Silva), Luke Harris being the youngest Welshman in the top flight in 22/23, and Fulham becoming the first side in Premier League history to have two players aged 32+ to score braces in the same game.