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⚽️Football Joao Palhinha has been one of the signings of the season in the Premier League

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Lupin

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Joao Palhinha likes a tackle. In fact, he loves a tackle. And Fulham supporters love him for it.

Stand outside Craven Cottage on a matchday and you might struggle to differentiate between the sound of the home side scoring and that of their towering No 26 steaming into a challenge.

So far this season, there have been 102 of them, 15 more than any other Premier League player. Another seven and he will equal the highest total in the whole of last season too.

Palhinha was still a Sporting Lisbon player then but it has been clear ever since his £20m arrival at Fulham in the summer that he is tailor-made for the full-throttle football of the Premier League.

"In Portugal, I felt I couldn't make a tackle, every touch was a yellow card," he said. "Here, it's completely different… It was one of the most important things behind my decision to come."

That is not to say his disciplinary record this season is without blemishes. A total of 10 bookings - the joint-most in the division - has caused him to miss three Premier League games through suspension.

It is not coincidental that Fulham have lost them all, the latest defeat coming against Arsenal on Sunday. Marco Silva might not care to admit it, but his side are not the same without Palhinha.
 
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