The Race for European Football: Can Bassey’s and Iwobi’s Fulham Do It?

Fulham are having a spectacular season. With wins against giants such as Liverpool, they have cemented a place in the top ten. We discuss the possibility of European qualifications this season.  

Calvin Bassey and Alex Iwobi are two Nigerian international players who earned their bread and butter playing for Fulham. The Premier League is the benchmark of world football, and if the team manages to qualify for European competitions, it will be a boost for the club and Nigerian sport. But just what are the chances of Fulham making it? 

The Statistics 

Fulham will be targeting a top 8 finish as the season comes to a close, especially with the chances being high that the 8th Place will at least go to the Conference League. However, after beating Liverpool, they can also dream of finishing in the top 7 and getting a place in the Europa League. With just a few points separating the mid-table pack, every match from here on out takes on added importance. 

Going into their upcoming match with Bournemouth, a few wins on the bounce is really what the team needs. They have won three of their last games and lost three. Good form is what is needed, as some of these have been giant-killing wins against teams like Liverpool, while losses have been against poor opposition that could have been won. According to 1xBet, Fulham is 9/4 to win as a result, against an opponent who has not won in around five matches. If you are interested in looking at the odds or betting on the game, you can use the 1xBet bonus, which can be used during sign-up and gets activated after the first deposit. It's important to read the terms and conditions to ensure a safe experience.

Fulham have been extremely open about European qualification being their main goal for the season. In a talk with BBC’s match of the day, Ryan Sessegnon discussed how the team was up for European spots. He also added that the team was taking it game by game and that they just needed to keep going.  

Marco Silva has also voiced his desire for the club to make it to Europe. He said that this was a target they set the summer before, and moving into the top ten has them on track to do it. The team had wanted to finish in the top half of the table at the start of the season. From there, they have looked at the present and future, taking it game by game. This saw them at one point having had five wins in eight games, a spectacular run. 

There is also the caveat that the Premier League may be awarded an extra place in the Champions League next season. This could come due to their performance in European competitions this season. This would then put the sixth-place team in the Europa League, with anyone above qualifying for the other competition. This must be at the back of the team's mind.  

Now if you factor in teams qualifying in other ways, even more places become available. This could be through a team winning a competition like the FA Cup, EFL Cup, UEFA Conference League, and others. This would add another place to European qualification, meaning a potential seven in the league and upwards would get them into Europe. With Fulham in eighth, this is how close they now are. 

In the last five seasons, 57.8 points have been enough to get qualification into the top eight. Fulham are currently on 48 points with 31 games played, so are well within making that. However, pushing this benchmark would be much better, ensuring that they are higher up the table and not reliant on external factors for qualification.  

The team itself is going from strength to strength under Marco Silva. With fantastic FA Cup runs and European places in sight, they have an energy behind them and a confidence that just needs a slight improvement in form to see them through. It only takes a look back at predictions pundits were placing on them as recently as March, for tenth-place spots, to show how far they have come. They have faced a lot of bigger clubs and won or walked away with draws. However, this will continue toward the end of the season so they need to knuckle down with this.  

Even at this point in the year, injuries have not diminished the strength of the squad and its depth has proven invaluable. Bernd Leno is a great pair of hands in goal, and defensively the team has done well despite some questions about form in its right-back selections, Castagne and Tete. The midfield, with Sander Berge or Sasa Lukic, has been exceptional, and the forward momentum of Rodrigo Muniz and Raul Jimenez has been on fire.  

There are plenty of factors at play in deciding if and when Fulham will qualify for Europe. The higher up the table they are, the more their chances increase. It is not bigger teams that will dictate this, but consistency.