Most Fulham fans would’ve anticipated a long day heading up to the Etihad, considering the Cottagers haven’t beaten the reigning champions at all in recent years, but the game didn’t quite play out as expected.

However, despite ultimately falling to a 3-2 loss in Manchester, Fulham gave a lasting good impression of themselves that won’t be forgotten by the rest of the teams in the Premier League.

It’ll be disappointing that they didn’t managed a result, but there’s plenty of positives to take for Fulham, so what are they?

A Raul-Surgence

When Fulham signed Raul Jiminez last summer, fans were underwhelmed with the idea of the Mexican replacing starman Aleksandr Mitrovic.

Despite a shaky start, which can probably be accredited to Jiminez’ upsetting head injury against Arsenal a few years ago, Jiminez is looking back to his best leading the line for Marco Silva’s side.

Ahead of their trip to the Etihad, Jiminez had scored in each of his Premier League starts so far this season, including a match-winning penalty over Nottingham Forest.

So, it wasn’t to the surprise of Fulham fans when the Mexican turned up in Manchester looking to prove a point against arguably the best team in the world. Although he didn’t manage to notch a goal himself, his assist for Andreas Pereira’s opener won’t be forgotten any time soon.

📸 - RAUL JIMENEZ WITH A F*CKING INSANE ASSIST, TAKE A BOW SON! pic.twitter.com/3RNrk2WvBO

— 𝐀𝐅𝐂 𝐀𝐉𝐀𝐗 💎 (@TheEuropeanLad) October 5, 2024

After Alex Iwobi played a short lofted ball toward Jiminez in the penalty area, it was clear there wasn’t space for Fulham’s number seven to get a shot away. When Jiminez turned his back to Manuel Akanji, it appeared the chance had fizzled out for Fulham, yet the Mexican managed to scoop a back heel over the heads of Manchester City’s defence teeing up Andreas Pereira for a tap in.

The assist demonstrated clearly, to doubtful Fulham fans and other sides in the league, that Raul Jiminez still possesses the quality he demonstrated in his stint at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Whilst he’s obviously not a long term option as Fulham look to push on toward European football, he’ll certainly not look out of place this campaign, as he seems to be Marco Silva’s preferred centre-forward.

His form so far this season has even earned him a recall to the Mexican national side.

Meet our squad list for our upcoming matches in Puebla and Guadalajara. 📋🇲🇽⚽️#PorMéxicoTodo pic.twitter.com/hhcsLNlLod

— Mexican National Team (@miseleccionmxEN) October 1, 2024

Lukic, in the Middle of Our Pitch

When Joao Palhinha traded Craven Cottage for The Allianz Arena in the summer, fans were distraught by the business conducted toward replacing the Portuguese destroyer.

🚨🔴 João Palhinha to Bayern, here we go! Deal approved on fee around €50m plus €5m add-ons.

Palhinha will sign contract until 2028 at Bayern, he’s been pushing for weeks for the deal to happen.

Medical to be booked then docs to be signed.

Story confirmed. ✅🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/Qh58buI805

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 3, 2024

Although Fulham received a significant fee for Palhinha, the hierarchy didn’t use it to sign a typical defensive midfielder, although Sander Berge is routinely misprofiled as one. Instead, they opted to hand Sasa Lukic an in-house promotion.

The Serbian signed for Fulham from Torino in January 2023, for around €8 million, and played a role as a bit-part number eight. So his step up to replace Joao Palhinha has come as a surprise to many fans, in a positive way that is.

Whilst Palhinha’s game was largely built on the sheer amount of tackles he was capable of making, demonstrated by him topping the charts for that attribute over his two seasons at Fulham, Lukic’s style is actually very dissimilar.

Keep working hard. 👊🏻 pic.twitter.com/ei1gpPMZEr

— Saša Lukić (@SasaLukic28) October 6, 2024

Although he’s fantastic at winning the ball back, he demonstrated against Manchester City that his game is more focused on ball-retention. From his 73 touches, Lukic attempted 63 passes, completing 89% of them. He’s so important to Fulham’s new, more positive system, recycling the ball effectively almost all the time.

Similarly, he completed 80% of his long passes, allowing Fulham to switch the ball to space and punish teams with the pace they possess through Antonee Robinson and Adama Traore.

This perfectly demonstrates the change in Fulham’s style from the fluid counter-attack usually relying on individual brilliance from Willian, to an all round dominant team side capable of providing performances like the one they put together against Manchester City.

Whilst last year Fulham arguably overperformed their stats last season, with the charts for xG and xGA suggesting that they should really be in the relegation zone, the switch from ball winning to ball keeping has shot them right up with the league’s big boys when comparing the stats for each team.

Premier League 11v11 xG table after 7 games pic.twitter.com/CkblpgKYNx

— markstats (@markrstats) October 6, 2024

Muniz Off the Mark

Rodrigo Muniz signed for Fulham from Flamengo back in 2021, and promised big things in his opening campaign.

Obviously the young Brazilian struggled to dislodge Aleksandr Mitrovic, as he set the record for most goals scored in England’s second tier over a 46-game season, but he did leave a good impression in the minutes he appeared.

A loan spell at Middlesbrough followed, and Muniz failed to make an impact in the North-East, with many Fulham fans assuming his time in England was over as Brazilian clubs circled. However, after notching his first Premier League goal against Burnley in February last season, Muniz kicked on.

What followed was a remarkable goalscoring run, earning himself Premier League goal and player of the month in the process.

Rodrigo Muniz with a bicycle kick earlier today for Fulham 🚲⚽️

9 G/A in his last 8 games, bro is cooking. What a player 🤝🇧🇷

pic.twitter.com/THPUJWnHrE

— Rising Ballers (@RisingBallers_) March 30, 2024

Muniz was awarded Mitrovic’s former number nine shirt in the summer, outlining the intentions for the Brazilian to lead the line in the coming years for the Cottagers as well as warding off reported interest from Chelsea and other clubs.

However, the striker had been firing blanks so far this season, namely missing key chances as Fulham took on Ipswich at Portman Road, but that all came to an end against Manchester City.

After him and Reiss Nelson entered the fold looking for to reduce the deficit, the two combined to bring Fulham closer to a result. Nelson, direct as always, burst into the final third and lofted a pass to Muniz in the box.

Muniz had managed to evade John Stones in the City area, and rifled his attempt into the top corner. It looked straight out of his goal catalogue from last season, and fans will be happy to see that Muniz should be back to his best.

Rodrigo Muniz has pulled one back

🔵 Man City 3-2 Fulham 🏡#MCIFUL pic.twitter.com/tCeQBjNNW4

— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) October 5, 2024

Whilst Jiminez will probably continue to lead the line, Muniz’ goal suggests Fulham will have an excellent competition for the number nine role this year, which will only help the Cottagers in their push for European football.