Fulham welcome West Bromwich Albion to Craven Cottage in Saturday’s headline tie from the latest round of 2021-22 Sky Bet Championship action.
With Bournemouth not in action until Saturday evening, victory would see Fulham move to within two points of the league leaders whereas West Brom can leapfrog the Cottagers into second with a win.
Team News
Fabio Carvalho could return for Fulham after recovering from a knee injury which forced him to miss the Cottagers’ last nine matches.
Terence Kongolo (knee), Ivan Cavaleiro (knee), Nathaniel Chalobah (calf) and Tyrese Francois (hip) remain ruled out.
West Brom have no fresh injury concerns to report as Alex Mowatt and Dara O’Shea (both ankle) remain absent.
Captain, Jake Livermore is set to return after serving an one match ban in last weekend’s win over Bristol City.
Stat Attack
- Fulham are unbeaten in their last 11 meetings against West Brom (W4, D7).
- West Brom are winless in their last eight visits to Craven Cottage (D3, L5).
- Fulham have scored first in four of their last five home matches (W4, L1).
- West Brom are winless in their last two away matches and are looking to avoid a third consecutive loss for the first time since January-February 2021.
- This is the first match involving both Fulham and West Brom to be refereed by Michael Salisbury.
Prediction
Since returning from this month’s international break, Fulham have been in fierce form with ten goals in three matches during which they conceded just once so I do expect them to come into this game high on confidence and their form in this fixture is another huge positive.
West Brom meanwhile were clinical against a poor Bristol City team last weekend despite two medical disruptions in the stands which could easily shook their focus, yet their away form has slipped and their poor away record in this fixture is another issue which they need to mentally overcome.
On that note, this feels like a match where executing chances will be key given that a top two spot is at stake although the season is still in it’s early stages, yet Fulham does look the stronger team and I fancy them to just have the edge here.
Prediction: Fulham 2-1 WBA
Result: Fulham 3-0 WBA