Fulham meet Crystal Palace in a mid-table London derby at Craven Cottage.
Victory would see Fulham secure a top-ten finish plus will climb to ninth if Brentford lose in the lunchtime kick-off, whilst Palace can go 11th with a win because Chelsea aren’t in action until Sunday (21 May).
Team News
Daniel James could return for Fulham after missing their last two matches with a hamstring injury.
Tim Ream (arm), Layvin Kurzawa (knee) and Andreas Pereira (leg) remain absent.
Palace will be without Wilfried Zaha after he suffered a hamstring injury during their win against Bournemouth last weekend.
Jeffrey Schlupp (knock), Luka Milivojevic, Nathan Ferguson (both muscle) and James Tomkins (calf) remain ruled out.
When is Kick-Off?
Fulham meet Crystal Palace at Craven Cottage in a 3:00pm BST kick-off on Saturday 20 May, untelevised in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Fulham have won just one of their last six meetings against Palace (W1, D2, L3).
- Palace are unbeaten in three of four previous Premier League visits to Fulham (W2, D1, L1).
- Palace’s Zaha has scored in each of his last two away appearances against Fulham (W2), although he is ruled out of this meeting with a hamstring injury.
- Carlos Vinicus has scored in each of his last two home appearances for Fulham (W1, L1).
- Marc Guehi is the only Palace player to have made last-man tackles this season, having done so twice in 35 league appearances.
Prediction
With a huge opportunity to secure a top-ten finish before Chelsea even play their two penultimate matches ahead of the final day, Fulham should be full of confidence after a clinical win at Southampton despite enduring a sloppy first half with several wasted chances.
Palace meanwhile were clinical in their home win against Bournemouth amidst their own wasteful end product, yet their attacking intensity was dominant throughout without any let-ups which is something that they must bring into this game given their poor form at Craven Cottage.
This clash though does feel bit like a mid-table dead rubber in a sense but if Fulham play with the quality that they’ve done in their last two games, they might just have enough to snatch a win and ensure that Chelsea are no longer one of West London’s best two footballing teams.
Prediction: Fulham 2-1 Crystal Palace
Result: Fulham 2-2 Crystal Palace
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