Premier League fixtures Aleksandar Mitrovic will miss after eight-match ban
The clock read 69:39 when the chaos began. Instinct took over as Willian found himself as the only Fulham player standing between a prodded effort from Manchester United's Jadon Sancho and his team's unguarded net.
The Brazilian punched the ball away before immediately protesting his innocence. Chris Kavanagh belatedly trotted over to the pitch-side monitor to watch the footage for himself on 71:02.
Before anyone at Stockley Park had even located the play button, Marco Silva was shown a red card with 71:12 on Kavanagh's watch. After a stoop and a squint, Willian was given his marching orders on 71:48.
The clock had only had time to tick to 71:53 when Aleksandar Mitrovic was shown a straight red for a thoughtless shove of Kavanagh. Going nose-to-nose with the official in not so much a red mist as a crimson flood, it took most of Fulham's playing and coaching staff to direct the striker down the Old Trafford tunnel.
In the space of two minutes and 14 seconds, Fulham managed to get three critical members of their team dismissed from a stormy FA Cup quarter-final. Bruno Fernandes swiftly cancelled out Mitrovic's opener from the spot before Marcel Sabitzer put Manchester United ahead within two minutes as the Red Devils ran out 3-1 winners.
More than two weeks after the incident, the FA have now slapped Mitrovic with an eight-game ban. After serving the first of this sequence in Fulham's 2-1 loss to Bournemouth last weekend, here are the remaining fixtures that the Cottagers' talisman is set to miss.
Fulham vs West Ham - Premier League
The first match of the season which Mitrovic missed was against West Ham at the London Stadium. Kavanagh was the referee that day and conspired to make a number of baffling decisions as Silva was left exasperated by a decidedly lax interpretation of the handball law.
Mercifully for Fulham - and Kavanagh - the Australian official Jarred Gillett will have the whistle for the reverse fixture on Saturday, 8 April. Yet, neither Silva nor Mitrovic will be there.
- 08/04/2023 - Fulham vs West Ham (15:00)
Everton vs Fulham - Premier League
Fulham may have been held to a goalless draw by Everton at Craven Cottage in October but the west Londoners will have fond memories of the club's last trip to Merseyside.
A rare ray of light in Fulham's previous Premier League campaign (2020/21) was a 2-0 victory at Goodison Park, the club's first-ever league win away to Everton. Fulham had lost their previous 22 top-flight trips to the blue half of Stanley Park but are aiming to avoid defeat in consecutive visits for the first time since the 1950s.
- 15/04/2023 - Everton vs Fulham (15:00)
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Fulham vs Leeds - Premier League
Leeds and Fulham both came up from the Championship in the summer of 2020. While the Cottagers tumbled straight back into the second tier, Leeds recorded an impressive top-half finish.
The roles are reversed this year as Fulham launch an assault on the top ten while Leeds circle the Premier League plug-hole. With little danger of relegation for Silva's side, the loss of Mitrovic has hampered Fulham's bid to record their first top-half finish since 2012.
- 22/04/2023 - Fulham vs Leeds (12:30)
Aston Villa vs Fulham - Premier League
Fulham's 3-0 thumping of Aston Villa at Craven Cottage proved to be the final nail in Steven Gerrard's coffin. Within 90 minutes of the final whistle, the former Liverpool icon was on his way out of the door, paving the way for Unai Emery to be drafted in.
Since Emery's first game in charge, Villa have earned more wins, goals and points than Fulham (and 16 other teams in the league). The Cottagers will have to go up against the resurgent force they created without their talisman.
- 25/04/2023 - Aston Villa vs Fulham (19:45)
Fulham vs Man City - Premier League
Fulham were seconds away from a hard-fought point at the home of the reigning Premier League champions without Mitrovic back in November.
However, Pep Guardiola was able to summon his own goal-greedy number nine from the bench before Erling Haaland converted a soft 90th-minute penalty. Silva will not have the option of turning to Mitrovic at any point when Manchester City travel to the capital.
- 30/04/2023 - Fulham vs Man City (14:00)
Liverpool vs Fulham - Premier League
Back in the hazy, sun-soaked days of August, Fulham and Mitrovic in particular announced their return to the top flight with a fully deserved 2-2 draw at home to Liverpool.
After kicking off Fulham's campaign with a towering back-post header, clambering all over a cowering Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mitrovic bamboozled Virgil van Dijk into his first concession of a Premier League penalty in almost four years with a deceptively slow shuffle of feet, converting the spot kick to put his side back ahead.
Liverpool's beleaguered backline will certainly be grateful for Mitrovic's absence.
- 03/05/2023 - Liverpool vs Fulham (20:00)
Fulham vs Leicester - Premier League
Mitrovic's crisply taken strike at the King Power Stadium not only decided victory for Fulham against Leicester, but it brought his side's points tally up to 28 - the same figure that they accrued across their entire previous top-flight season.
That clincal conversion on 3 January remains Mitrovic's most-recent Premier League goal - his only one of 2023. Fulham's leading scorer - at the time of his suspension - will not have the chance to bolster his tally until after Fulham host Leicester on the second weekend of May.
- 08/05/2023 - Fulham vs Leicester (15:00)
Premier League games Mitrovic will miss through suspension
- 08/04/2023 - Fulham vs West Ham (15:00)
- 15/04/2023 - Everton vs Fulham (15:00)
- 22/04/2023 - Fulham vs Leeds (12:30)
- 25/04/2023 - Aston Villa vs Fulham (19:45)
- 30/04/2023 - Fulham vs Man City (14:00)
- 03/05/2023 - Liverpool vs Fulham (20:00)
- 08/05/2023 - Fulham vs Leicester (15:00)
When will Mitrovic be available for Fulham again?
Fulham will be able to call upon their hot-tempered talisman again by the second weekend of May. The Cottagers will only have three Premier League games left of the season to contest but Mitrovic's return will surely be warmly received. Fulham's trip back to Old Trafford on the final day of the campaign is one for all neutrals - and the available again Mitrovic - to ring in red on the calendar.
The remaining Premier League fixtures Mitrovic will be able to compete in
- 13/05/2023 - Southampton vs Fulham (15:00)
- 20/05/2023 - Fulham vs Crystal Palace (15:00)
- 28/05/2023 - Man Utd vs Fulham (16:30)
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