All our winning streaks since Tigana’s 11 in a row

Rhys takes a look at each run of three or more consecutive victories since Jean Tigana arrived in SW6.

Since Jean Tigana replaced caretaker duo Karl-Heinz Riedle and Roy Evans in the Craven Cottage dugout back in 1999, Fulham have won more than two consecutive league fixtures on 17 occasions. We can define those as “winning streaks”.

The first run came instantly after the legendary former France midfielder was appointed boss, beginning with a win over Crewe Alexandra in early August and ending more than two months later with a draw against Wolves.

Although the bulk of campaigns since then have come in the top-flight, it might come as a surprise to recall that Marco Silva’s men are currently on Fulham’s best run for over 20 years.

Beginning with the aforementioned form, we have taken a deeper look at the short periods in which Fulham have looked unstoppable – including a fine run of three point returns during Slavisa Jokanovic and his 23 undefeated.

August to October 2000 – Jean Tigana

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A run defined by: Louis Saha

Number of consecutive victories: 11

Wins over: Crewe, Birmingham, Stockport, Norwich, Barnsley, Burnley, Forest, Gillingham, Bolton, Blackburn and Crystal Palace.

Jean Tigana led Fulham to 11 consecutive league victories on his arrival in West London, cementing his side’s place at the top of the table from fixture two until the end of the season.

With Louis Saha, Barry Hayles and Luis Boa Morte proving too hot to handle for first division defenders, Maik Taylor, Steve Finnan, Kit Symons and Chris Coleman were part of a robust defensive line.

Fulham fired home 31 goals across their 11-match winning run, conceding only six.

Notable wins were 5-1 over Barnsley and 3-0 over Gillingham, with the run coming to an end with a goalless draw against Wolves.

The outcome? Fulham would go on to be promoted into the Premier League at the first time of asking under Tigana, winning 30 of their 46 fixtures and losing on only five occasions.

October to November 2001 – Jean Tigana

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A run defined by: Steed Malbranque

Number of consecutive victories: 3

Wins over: Southampton, West Ham and Newcastle

Fulham wouldn’t have to wait long for another winning run, putting together a string of three triumphs across their 10th, 11th and 12th fixtures back in the top flight.

While not quite as eye-catching as their 11 during the previous season, our results in the Premier League since have shown just how rare that sort of form can be.

Following a run of just one victory across nine league outings, a narrow win over Southampton at Loftus Road sparked the start of three wins on the bounce, which would end as an eight-game unbeaten spell.

Fulham would go on to finish 13th in the table, as well as reaching the FA Cup semi-finals.

April 2006 – Chris Coleman

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A run defined by: Luis Boa Morte

Number of consecutive victories: 3

Wins over: Charlton, Wigan and Manchester City.

Fulham would go three full seasons without posting another three-match winning run in the Premier League, ending that period under the guidance of Chris Coleman at the end of the 2005/06 campaign.

Fulham had battled hard to keep their place in the division under the former Wales defender, winning 10 times across 33 fixtures before their end of season run of good form.

Having beaten Chelsea, drawing with Aston Villa and then losing to Portsmouth, Fulham would secure narrow victories against each of Charlton, Wigan and Manchester City.

With Boa Morte and Malbranque both scoring twice across the three fixtures, Fulham would go on to finish an impressive 12th in the table.

April to May 2008 – Roy Hodgson

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A run defined by: Danny Murphy

Number of consecutive victories: 3

Wins over: Manchester City, Birmingham and Portsmouth.

Who could forget this one? At the culmination of what had been a dismal season during which Fulham seemed to be heading for relegation, Roy Hodgson etched his name into our hearts by reviving a team that looked dead and buried.

Fulham won only five times across 35 fixtures to sit 19th in the table going into the final three games of the season, and found themselves 2-0 behind, and set to be mathematically relegated, at the break against City.

With heroics from Diomansy Kamara and Danny Murphy’s penalty rebound turning the fixture on its head, the impossible was made realistic by the subsequent 2-0 win over Birmingham.

Only three points on the final day would guarantee survival, and it was Murphy who headed home from a Jimmy Bullard free-kick at Fratton Park to secure safety.

February to March 2012 – Martin Jol

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A run defined by: Pavel Pogrebnyak

Number of consecutive victories: 3

Wins over: Stoke, QPR and Wolves.

Fulham ended another long run without three consecutive Premier League victories during the 2011/12 campaign – amazingly not doing it even once on the way to a seventh-place finish in 2008/09.

Fulham brought in Jol following the departure of the ambitious future QPR boss Mark Hughes, and a steady first season under the Dutchman led to a ninth placed finish.

Following two wins from seven fixtures across an unforgiving Christmas period, Fulham would bounce back from a 3-0 defeat against Manchester City with a 2-1 victory at home against Stoke.

This period could well be the finest fixtures in Pavel Pogrebnyak’s career, who built on his debut strike against Stoke with the only goal of the game against QPR and a treble against Wolves.

April 2016 – Slavisa Jokanovic

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A run defined by: Ross McCormack

Number of consecutive victories: 3

Wins over: MK Dons, Preston and Cardiff.

Since the last run of three consecutive league victories, Fulham had been relegated to the Championship and flirted with another to League One before the arrival of Slavisa.

While Kit Symons had briefly brought smiles back to Craven Cottage, it would be under the Serbian where FFC would push on to become promotion challengers in his first full campaign.

Following a run of just two victories across 14 matches after he assumed head coach duties, Jokanovic oversaw narrow wins over MK Dons, Preston and Cardiff.

Fulham would climb from 21st to 17th with those nine points, and end up finishing 20th.

February 2017 – Slavisa Jokanovic

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A run defined by: Lucas Piazon and Tom Cairney

Number of consecutive victories: 3

Wins over: Wigan, Forest, Bristol City.

Following another turbulent start to a Championship season, Fulham would find a run of form that forced them into play-off contention during the midway stage of the 2016/17 season.

February victories over Wigan, Forest and Bristol City kickstarted a fine run of 11 wins from the closing 17 fixtures of the Championship season, with another winning run to follow.

Lucas Piazon and Tom Cairney both netted twice across these three fixtures, with back-to-back 3-2 victories followed by a routine outing at Ashton Gate.

April 2017 – Slavisa Jokanovic

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A run defined by: Stefan Johansen

Number of consecutive victories: 4

Wins over: Ipswich, Norwich, Aston Villa and Huddersfield

Fulham really hit their stride under Jokanovic as the race to finish inside the top six got hotter in early 2017, and it was this run of wins that forced them above seventh for the first time since August.

Fulham bounced back from losing 4-2 at Derby to smash home more than three goals in each of their next four fixtures, securing 12 points in the process.

3-1 wins over each of Ipswich, Norwich and Aston Villa were followed by 4-1 at Huddersfield, with Fulham going on to come up short against Reading in the play-off semi-finals.

December to April 2018 – Slavisa Jokanovic

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First run defined by: Ryan Sessegnon and Oliver Norwood’s penalty

Number of consecutive victories: 5

Wins over: Ipswich, Middlesbrough, Burton, Barnsley and Forest

Second run defined by: Aleksandar Mitrovic

Number of consecutive victories: 4

Wins over: Norwich, Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday and Reading

Third run defined by: Aleksandar Mitrovic

Number of consecutive victories: 4

Wins over: Ipswich, Norwich, Aston Villa and Huddersfield

A triple-header to celebrate 23, 23 undefeated. A run in which Fulham won 18 matches across an invincible streak that lasted from December 23 until the final day of the season.

Three games into that their spell, Fulham went on a run that included wins over Ipswich, Middlesbrough, Burton, Barnsley and Forest, and won another four after two draws from three outings.

Victims in the second run were Wolves, Derby, Sheffield United and Preston, with further triumphs over Norwich, Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday and Reading coming after a draw with QPR.

Fulham would book their return to the top-flight with a win over Aston Villa at Wembley despite final day defeat against Birmingham.

April 2019 – Scott Parker

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A run defined by: Ryan Babel

Number of consecutive victories: 3

Wins over: Everton, Bournemouth and Cardiff

A dismal Premier League season was given a fleeting moment of joy by Scott Parker immediately after relegation back to the Championship was confirmed.

Fulham beat Everton, Bournemouth and Cardiff across April of 2019, before ending the season with defeats against Wolves and Newcastle.

Too little too late? Yes.

August 2019 – July 2020 – Scott Parker

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First run defined by: Championship Barcelona

Number of consecutive victories: 3

Wins over: Blackburn, Huddersfield and Millwall.

Second run defined by: Aleksandar Mitrovic

Number of consecutive victories: 4

Wins over: Birmingham, QPR, Derby and Swansea

Third run defined by: Harry Arter and Josh Onomah

Number of consecutive victories: 4

Wins over: QPR, Birmingham, Forest and Cardiff

Another promotion season, this time under the guidance of Parker, with a Fulham side who failed to really excite supporters until the final few months of the campaign.

2019/20 saw three winning runs of more than two league fixtures, the first coming with triumphs over Blackburn, Huddersfield and Millwall after opening day defeat to Barnsley.

Fans would have to wait until November for the next streak, beating Birmingham, QPR, Derby and Swansea, before three consecutive losses brought us back down to earth.

The final run would be the most important, with maximum points against QPR, Birmingham, Forest and Cardiff ending in a fourth-placed finish and eventual play-off final victory over Brentford.

August to November 2021 – Marco Silva

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First run defined by: Fabio Carvalho

Number of consecutive victories: 4

Wins over: Huddersfield, Millwall, Hull and Stoke

Second run defined by: Aleksandar Mitrovic

Number of consecutive victories: 6 and counting

Wins over: QPR, Cardiff, Forest, West Brom, Blackburn and Peterborough.

Marco Silva has already overseen two memorable winning runs during his 17 league fixtures as Fulham boss, with a total of 12 victories giving him a win ratio of 70% domestically.

Following the opening day draw against Middlesbrough, Fulham brushed off challenges from Huddersfield, Millwall, Hull and Stoke to take an early lead at the top of the table.

After scoring 12 goals and conceding only two during those four fixtures, Silva’s men would lose three of their next six outings, before hitting full stride.

Going into the current international break, Fulham have won six consecutive Championship fixtures, smashing home 21 goals and conceding only once against QPR, Cardiff, Forest, West Brom, Blackburn and Peterborough.

With fixtures on the horizon against Barnsley, Derby and Preston before a showdown against Parker’s Bournemouth, could Fulham be top by December?