Rejuvenated Blades a test for Fulham, says Silva

Fulham boss Marco Silva believes Sheffield United’s slow start to life back in the Championship proves just how difficult it can be for teams that drop out of the Premier League.

The sides meet at Craven Cottage on Monday with the Blades finally hitting some form, with three successive wins, having struggled under the guidance of former Whites boss Slavisa Jokanovic, who was sacked three weeks ago with the team languishing in 16th place.

The former Chelsea midfielder, who has won promotion twice from the Championship, first with Watford in 2015 before guiding Fulham back into the top flight in 2018/19, was axed after just six months in charge at Bramall Lane, with former Leeds and Barnsley boss Paul Heckingbottom handed the reins.

Like Fulham and West Brom, who also dropped out of the Premier League last season, United were expected to be among the challengers for automatic promotion, but have found it tough going and acted fast following a slow start to the campaign by making a managerial change.

But while Watford and Norwich bounced straight back to the Premier League at the first attempt last season, clubs such as Huddersfield, Stoke and Middlesbrough have all laboured in the Championship in recent years after going down, and Silva said even with a proven Championship specialist like Jokanovic at the helm, there can be no guarantee of success.

“It’s not just about Slavisa, it’s a really tough competition, the Championship,” Silva said.

“It’s not the first example of a team getting relegated and finding it difficult to adapt so quickly to a different competition.

“Always when you get relegated it is a tough season for every club, for the staff, for the players, for the fans.

“When you get relegated it is really tough, and as quickly as you can you have to change the mindset to go again. Sometimes it’s not easy, for many reasons.

“If you don’t start the season well, if in the first games you didn’t get the points that you want to be around the top of the table or the play-offs, of course you start to lose some confidence.

“It’s part of the competition, because the Championship is really tough, and you have to adapt quickly.

“At the beginning of the season they didn’t achieve the results they wanted. But I don’t have any doubts about the quality of their squad.”

Silva’s side sit at the top of the table despite having drawn their past four matches and can extend their lead to five points with victory  after second-placed Bournemouth slipped to defeat at Middlesbrough on Saturday.

At the halfway point of the season, the Portuguese said he is satisfied with the way his side have adapted to life back in the Championship but is expecting a very difficult encounter against a side many tipped for automatic promotion.

“They have been in good form the last few games and will be full of confidence,” he said.

“I said a few weeks ago that I expected there to be more teams contending for for promotion that are not currently in the top six and Sheffield United are one of them.”