“Impossible to rest him” – Ex-Sporting Lisbon coach cites Iwobi’s importance to Fulham’s setup

Former Sporting Lisbon head coach Marco Silva has highlighted Alex Iwobi’s importance to Fulham’s setup, Afrik Foot reports.

The 29-year-old played all 90 minutes at the bet365 Stadium against Stoke City in the FA Cup fourth round. Goals from Harrison Reed and Kevin helped the Cottagers progress to the next round of the tournament.

However, it was a milestone appearance for the former Arsenal man, as he played his 100th game for the three-time EFL Championship winners.

Marco Silva cites Alex Iwobi’s importance to Fulham

Following Fulham’s 2-1 win over Stoke City, the club’s coach, Marco Silva, revealed he intended to bench the Nigerian midfielder, but couldn’t, largely because there’s no worthy replacement in the squad.

“Alex. It’s another game where it was not possible to rest him, but it was a good game from him,” the Portuguese manager said in his post-match presser.

“We don’t have the solutions [replacement] if we rest him, but the backline was solid. It was a good performance overall, and a good response from the players,” the Fulham boss concluded.

Iwobi is the 183rd player to have crossed the 100-game threshold for the Cottagers.

Only Raul Jimenez (103), Rodrigo Muniz (109), Kenny Tete (140), Bernd Leno (144), Ryan Sessengnon (164), Harry Wilson (176), and Tom Cairney (374) in Fulham’s current squad have more Fulham appearances than Iwobi.

In 100 games for Fulham, Iwobi has scored 17 goals and provided 10 assists across all competitions. He’s now played at least a hundred games for all of the clubs he’s been with – Arsenal (149) and Everton (149).

While Iwobi has started every game for Fulham since he returned from the AFCON 2025 tournament, his international teammate Calvin Bassey has started just once, losing his sport to Spanish centre-back Jorge Cuenca.