Fulham suffered a gut-wrenching defeat to Manchester United yesterday and Andreas Pereira once again failed to get one over his old side.
The Brazilian put in a very good performance at Craven Cottage but couldn’t prevent Marco Silva’s side suffering a 1-0 loss thanks to Bruno Fernandes’s late goal.
The biggest difference in Fulham’s set-up this season compared to last year is the absence of Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Fulham have scored just nine goals in their first 11 league games which is a worrying statistic.
Joao Palhinha and Bobby De Cordova-Reid are the only Fulham players with more than one league goal this season and Silva’s strikers have just one league goal between them.
Rodrigo Muniz was given the nod ahead of Raul Jimenez and Carlos Vinicius yesterday and put in a decent performance before being substituted with an injury.
One of the highlights of last season for Fulham was when Andreas Pereira joined from Man United and linked up immediately with Mitrovic.
The pair caused so many issues for opposition teams, but Pereira only has one assist in the league this season.
The statistics show that Pereira has been unlucky not to have more assists to his name and that sums up Fulham’s biggest problem this season.
Pereira goes under the radar for Fulham against Man United
According to Sofascore, Andreas Pereira played six key passes to his teammates yesterday before being substituted in the closing stages.
He completed 19 of his 25 passes and won four of his duels, showing he was contributing in both attack and defence.
The £10m playmaker was essential to Fulham’s set-up last season but the signing of Alex Iwobi means he could now be rotated.
Pereira showcased the best parts of his game against Man United but will know he might need to contribute more goals given Fulham’s struggles in that area.
He’s only taken 11 shots all season in the league, with just three of them on target.
He caught Aaron Ramsdale off guard at the Emirates to score his only goal of the season and a trip to Villa Park next weekend won’t be easy.
Performances are improving across the pitch, but small mistakes continue to be costly.
Fulham aren’t punishing their opponents when they’re gifted opportunities and that ultimately might come back to haunt them.