Marco Silva spent Christmas five years ago recovering from his brutal sacking at Everton after only 18 months at Goodison Park.

Silva’s promising first season, in which he took Everton to eighth while often playing eye-catching attacking football, was quickly forgotten as he struggled into December before then-owner Farhad Moshiri pulled the trigger with the Toffees in 18th place following a 5-2 thrashing at Liverpool.

In those closing weeks at Everton, Silva cut a haunted figure fighting a losing battle, the pleas of director of football Marcel Brands ignored as the Portuguese lost his job, eventually being replaced by Carlo Ancelotti.

There were very few dissenting voices among supporters at Silva’s dismissal.

They were getting used to the new Everton reality that managers would now be shown the door in short order by Moshiri at almost the first sign of struggle, a sharp contrast to previous years of stability when David Moyes was in charge for more than a decade.

Silva bided his time before returning to management with Fulham in July 2021.

He has since carefully rebuilt a reputation that once earmarked him as one of Europe’s most promising young coaches, established at Estoril and Sporting in Portugal then Olympiakos in Greece, making his mark at Fulham with promotion from the Championship as champions in his first season, winning 27 of 46 games.

He has since re-established Fulham as a Premier League force, finishing 10th in 2022-23 and 13th last season. It is a fine body of work and this magnificent win at Chelsea was a prime example of a rehabilitation that has gathered new momentum in recent weeks.

In December, Fulham earned a point at Tottenham then, more significantly, took a fully deserved share of the spoils against Arsenal at Craven Cottage before becoming only the second team to take league points off Liverpool at Anfield in a thrilling 2-2 draw.

This, arguably, was Fulham’s finest result and performance under Silva, given its meaning as a west London derby and after 45 years without a victory at Stamford Bridge

Silva’s successful festive period will be in the sharpest contrast to the misery of 2019, and he thinks Fulham’s fans will share his joy as he said: “It will be one of the best Boxing Days for the fans in the last 50 years.”