2022-23 Carabao Cup: Second Round – Crawley vs Fulham

Crawley Town welcome Fulham to Broadfield Stadium in the Second Round of 2022-23 Carabao Cup.

Crawley are looking to advance to the Third Round for only the second time in eight seasons, whilst Fulham look to advance from this stage for a third consecutive season.

 

Team News

Tony Craig is suspended for Crawley after he was red carded in Saturday’s League Two defeat at home to AFC Wimbledon.

David Robinson and Ben Wells are amongst fringe players who will be looking for starts here as manager, Kevin Betsy considers rotating his squad.

Fulham have no fresh injury concerns to report from Saturday’s dramatic Premier League win over Brentford, as manager – Marco Silva looks to rotate his squad with Issa Diop and Terry Ablade amongst those looking for starts.

Joe Bryan (hand), Neeskens Kebano (knock), Manor Solomon and Harry Wilson (both knee) are ruled out.

 

Stat Attack

• This is the first-ever competitive meeting between Crawley and Fulham in all competitions.
• Fulham are visiting Crawley’s Broadfield Stadium for the first time in a competitive fixture but won 3-1 on their last visit in pre-season in July 2015 ahead of 2015-16 season.
• Tom Cairney is the only Fulham player from that pre-season victory to still feature for the Cottagers in their current squad.
• Crawley have won one of their last five League Cup ties against higher league opposition excluding penalty shootouts (W1, D1, L3) – although they beat Stoke on penalties after 1-1 draw in September 2019.
• Fulham have lost just one of their last six League Cup ties against lower league opposition (W5, L1).

 

Prediction

With just 40.8 miles between Crawley and Fulham, there will be plenty of local pride at stake but Crawley need to deliver a huge performance, having scored just once all season which came in their First Round win over Bristol Rovers.

Fulham meanwhile were absolutely fantastic in their West-London derby victory over Brentford with their aggressive attacking and movement, yet I do expect changes here but there will be pressure on those coming in to try and stake their claim for a starting spot against Arsenal on Saturday.

In fact my thoughts are a comfortable away win but if Fulham’s changes struggle to make much impact and Crawley can dig in defensively, this could be a tasty encounter but I just don’t see the hosts getting anything here.

Prediction: Crawley 0-2 Fulham

Result: Crawley 2-0 Fulham