Fulham welcome Aston Villa to Craven Cottage in the first of a Thursday Night Football double-header.
Victory could see Fulham return to the top ten, whilst Villa can move away from the relegation zone with a win.
Team News
Fulham have no fresh injury concerns after their 2-2 draw against Bournemouth as Nathaniel Chalobah (suspension), Kenny Tete (hamstring), Layvin Kurzawa (calf) and Manor Solomon (knee) remain absent.
Aston Villa could be without defender, Tyrone Mings after he suffered a knock to his ankle in injury-time of their defeat against Chelsea on Sunday.
Cameron Archer (groin) is a doubt but Boubacar Kamara (knee), Ludwig Augustinsson (hamstring), Lucas Digne (heel) and Diego Carlos (Achilles) are still ruled out.
Stat Attack
- Fulham have lost just two of their last six Premier League meetings against Aston Villa (W3, D1, L2).
- Aston Villa have won just one of their last five Premier League visits to Craven Cottage (W1, D2, L2).
- Fulham are looking to avoid three consecutive defeats against Villa for the first time since a three-match run between December 2003 – October 2004.
- Two of Aleksandar Mitrovic’s five league goals scored at home for Fulham this season have been scored from the penalty spot.
- No Villa player this season has made more interceptions than Matty Cash (12).
Prediction
Having failed to win any of their last three matches due to poor defending despite managing to score goals, Fulham certainly need to improve their immediate focus following a sloppy start against Bournemouth, although their attack was clinical whilst Bernd Leno made great saves to salvage a draw.
Villa meanwhile certainly were on the front foot against Chelsea with decent creativity and movement in attack, yet their end product was wasteful whilst Tyrone Mings certainly needs to deliver a decent performance here after being at fault for both of Chelsea’s goals.
I though am going for a home win because if Fulham can dig in and frustrate Villa’s end product by limiting their attacking creativity, I can see the Cottagers having enough to snatch a win but Villa know that a win is a must if Steven Gerrard is to survive as manager.
Prediction: Fulham 1-0 Aston Villa
Result: Fulham 3-0 Aston Villa
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