Fulham welcome Newcastle United to Craven Cottage on the final day of 2020-21 Premier League season.
At least one point would be enough for Fulham to guarantee a 18th placed finish due to their superior goal difference over West Brom.
Newcastle meanwhile can finish as high as 12th with a win if results elsewhere go in their favour.
Team News
Harrison Reed is a doubt for Fulham with an ankle injury suffered in their midweek draw at Manchester United.
Aleksandr Mitrovic (gluteal) is ruled out and joins Antonee Robinson (ankle), Tom Cairney and Terence Kongolo (both knee) on the sidelines.
Newcastle have several new injury concerns to report after Wednesday’s home win over Sheffield United.
Joelinton, Allan Saint-Maximin, Martin Dubravka (all knock), Elliott Anderson (hip) and Joe Willock (fatigue) are all considered doubts but will be handed late fitness tests.
Fabian Schar returns from suspension but Jamaal Lascelles (foot), Callum Wilson (hamstring), Ryan Fraser (groin), Isaac Hayden and Karl Darlow (both knee) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Fulham have won just one of their last six Premier League meetings against Newcastle (W1, D2, L3).
- Newcastle have won just one of their last six top-flight visits to Craven Cottage (W1, L5).
- Scott Parker’s Cottagers have kept just two clean sheets in their last five clashes against Newcastle (W1, D2, L2).
- Joe Willock has scored in each of his last six league appearances for Newcastle.
- Ivan Cavaleiro is the only Fulham player to have scored more than one headed league goal this season, doing so on two occasions.
Prediction
Fulham will be pleased with how they responded in midweek to last Saturday’s loss at Southampton because they delivered a solid performance at Man Utd, in which they created opportunities but often lacked the finishing touch yet were often caught out by Utd’s pace.
Newcastle meanwhile were absolutely excellent in attack yet struggled to break down Paul Heckingbottom’s Blades except at set pieces, with poor positioning of shots often their main issue which they will hopefully look to resolve here.
This fixture though is dead in terms of importance so I can see some experimentation going on ahead of next season, although Newcastle should have enough for a routine win if are clinical enough despite their poor away form at Craven Cottage.
Prediction: Fulham 1-1 Newcastle
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