Welcome to Fulham: the Premier League’s unashamedly middle-class club

US owners have restored the team to the big time, building around an attack-minded manager and an energetic squad

Of all of London's football clubs, Fulham is the most middle-class. Tucked on the north bank of the Thames amid a neighborhood of million-pound housing and leafy avenues, Craven Cottage is where the residential swell of well-to-do south-west London begins, reaching out to suburbs where rugby union is the preferred sport. Along with rowing, that is. The Oxford-Cambridge University Boat Race, held since 1829, starts on the Putney Bridge many visitors cross to reach the stadium.

To the traditionalists, Fulham was always a second-division concern, welcome in the top division for the pleasantness of the surroundings and the club's commitment to attractive football. And it is a club with no fierce rivalry of note, with near-neighbors Chelsea far more interested in crosstown rivals Tottenham.