Fulham will play their final friendly of the summer on Sunday afternoon, with Villarreal making the trip to Craven Cottage, less than one week before the team’s 2022-23 Premier League opener against Liverpool.
Silva’s side have played three pre-season fixtures, starting their preparations for the new season with a 2-0 victory over Nice on July 16 before suffering a 5-1 loss to Benfica one day later.
Fulham will enter this match off the back of a positive result, though, having run out 3-1 winners over Estoril on July 24, with Aleksandar Mitrovic (two) and new signing Joao Palhinha on the scoresheet in Portugal.
The Cottagers won last season’s Championship title to secure a return to the Premier League, and the team are bidding to make it back-to-back seasons in England’s top flight for the first time since 2012-13 and 2013-14.
Silva’s team have been relatively active during the summer transfer window, bringing in Palhinha, Andreas Pereira and Kevin Mbabu on permanent deals, while Manor Solomon has arrived on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk, but the club have lost highly-rated teenager Fabio Carvalho to Liverpool.
Villarreal, meanwhile, have played four times during pre-season, opening their preparations for the new campaign with a 1-1 draw against Sporting Lisbon on July 14.
The Yellow Submarine have since beaten PSV Eindhoven, Borussia Dortmund and Reims, while they will be in action ahead of this match, taking on Southampton on Saturday, before the clash at Craven Cottage.
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Villarreal will then round off their preparations for the return of competitive action with a friendly against Inter Milan on August 6, with their La Liga campaign starting one week later away to Real Valladolid.
Unai Emery’s side, who finished seventh in La Liga last season, have signed three players during the summer window, bringing in Pepe Reina and Jose Luis Morales before confirming the arrival of Kiko Femenia from Watford.
There have also been a number of departures for last season’s Champions League semi-finalists ahead of the new campaign, with Moi Gomez, Sergio Asenjo, Serge Aurier and Mario Gaspar among those moving on.
