Fulham have a lot of work to do if they are to prove their doubters wrong in the Premier League next season.
The Cottagers failed to compete against the drop in their last two attempts in the top-flight, 2018/19 and 2020/21, but have fuelled belief with the manner of their promotion from the Championship this time around.
Marco Silva believes that the gap between the two divisions is widening at the moment, making next season even tougher for Fulham.
The former Hull City manager explained why that is when he spoke to The Athletic.
He said: "If you remain in the Premier League for one, two, three, four or five seasons, you can create a squad; you have the time to replace one, two or three players at the end of the season and to get stronger.
"It is more difficult for the teams that get promoted.
"Because of that, I’m saying that the gap is getting bigger.
"There are very good examples as well.
"It doesn’t always happen.
"But, in my opinion, it is getting bigger because the competition is harder.
"It is the best and the toughest competition in the world.
"We have to look for ourselves and do our maximum, but we have to be really assertive, I think, over the next two months.
"It will be really important for us because each wrong step will be a problem."
The difference in the television money received by each club in the Premier League is enormous in comparison to the second tier, therefore it is no surprise to see an increase in yo-yo clubs in the last few years.
The Verdict
The last two times the Cottagers were promoted from the Championship, it was via the play-offs, giving them less time to prepare for the new season, but also without proving themselves as one of the best teams in the second tier, until the final knockings of the campaign.
There are areas of the team that need addressing, a Fabio Carvalho replacement has to be brought in alongside some added quality to smoothen the transition to the top-flight.
However, it does not feel like the club are stumbling into the Premier League, the way they have done in the past and this time around they have a manager with experience there, having built a strong reputation at Hull and Watford before taking on the challenge at Everton.