Fulham v Wolves: Flying Cottagers pushing for promotion

They had won just four matches all season and were sat in 16th, six points behind sixth-placed Derby having played two games more.

Slavisa Jokanovic looked a broken man that night and spoke of Fulham ‘being in trouble’. Indeed much more of that and his job would have been on the line.

Since then the transformation has been remarkable.

Fulham have lost only twice more and propelled themselves into the promotion picture, winning eight and drawing three of their past 11 matches to move to fifth place.

“We have good momentum,” Jokanovic said after Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at Bristol City.

“Our unbeaten run is 11 games and we need to be confident and we need to trust in ourselves and try and play our style.

“We tried (at Bristol), we weren’t successful like we were in some games in the past, but we showed personality to try and follow our style, try and move the ball, but it wasn’t easy for us.”

On paper it’s no surprise that Fulham are in the top six.

For a start they possess one of the best midfields in the Championship with Stefan Johansen, ex-Wolves schemer Kevin McDonald and the highly-rated Tom Cairney, who was the subject of a rejected £18million bid from West Ham in January.

January additions have strengthened Jokanovic’s hand with Republic of Ireland right back Cyrus Christie joining from Middlesbrough, fellow defender Matt Targett moving on loan from Southampton and Serbian international striker Aleksandar Mitrovic joining on a temporary move from Newcastle.

Throw wonderkid Ryan Sessegnon (11 goals in 16 matches from the left wing) into the mix and it’s clear why Fulham have

belatedly found some promotion-chasing form.

However, due to their slow start it’s a big ask to expect them to reach the top two from here. Fulham are eight points behind second-placed Cardiff.

They are currently in a ‘season-defining’ run of fixtures, with matches against Derby, Sheffield United and Preston following tomorrow’s game.

Cairney thinks Fulham will be there or thereabouts if they can keep their current form up.

“It’s huge, I think it defines the season,” Cairney said of the fixture list. “All those teams are above us or around us so it’s massive. It’s going to define what we’re going to do this season.

“It’s a special run and we’ve really climbed the table.

“We’re in form at a great time, it’s just about maintaining it to the end of the season and we shouldn’t be far off.”

Predicted line ups

Fulham (4-3-3): Bettinelli; Christie, Odoi, Ream, Targett; Johansen, McDonald, Cairney; Piazon, Mitrovic, Sessegnon.

Wolves (3-4-3): John Ruddy; Bennett, Coady, Boly; Doherty, N'Diaye, Saiss, Douglas; Costa, Jota, Cavaleiro. Subs: Norris, Batth, Miranda, Gibbs-White, Enobakhare, Afobe, Bonatini.