Premiership: Fulham V Stoke City – Saturday, 22nd January

 

Fulham V Stoke City

Saturday, 22nd January – 15:00 (GMT)
Venue: Craven Cottage

 

Fulham

The Cottagers are aiming to record their third successive win at Craven Cottage in all competitions, though they’ve won only one of their last six on home soil in the league and last notched up back-to-back league wins at home back in February 2010.

After an almost barren first half of the season, where Mark Hughes’ Fulham conjured only three wins from their opening 19 league games of the season, the West-Londoners all of a sudden find themselves with a winning habit, or at least have a taste for victories. Their 1-1 stalemate with fellow struggler’s Wigan Athletic last weekend halted a winning sequence of two matches, both those occurring at home as well following comprehensive triumphs over West Brom (3-0) and Peterborough (6-2), the latter in the third-round of the FA Cup, and victory over a Potters side who needed an extra 30 minutes to see off Cardiff City in their midweek FA Cup replay would hand Fulham their third home win on the spin.

Because Fulham didn’t require a replay to seal their passage into the fourth-round of the FA Cup, Mark Hughes’ charges should have the edge when it comes down to the stamina of the two sides, although the Potters are arguably one of the fittest teams in the entire top-flight so Fulham’s advantage may only prove telling in the dying embers of the game. However, perhaps more crucial to their chances will be their 2-0 victory in the reverse encounter over at Stoke’s Brittania Stadium three weeks ago, when a Chris Baird double handed Fulham their very first away win of the season. The Cottagers should now have both a physical and psychological advantage over their rivals.

Despite racking up ten goals in their last three competitive matches, goals have been the root of Fulham’s problems this season, the Cottagers floundering near the lower depths of the table and having only a slim one-point cushion over those currently occupying relegation spots thanks to their bordering on dismal tally of 23 goals in 22 games. Moussa Dembele played 30 minutes at Wigan last week and is now back in contention to bolster Hughes’ forward options, meanwhile Andy Johnson slotted home his first of the season to hand his faltering confidence levels a much needed boost.

Bobby Zamora is still out injured, Mark Schwarzer away on international duty with Australia while the possible loan move of Shaun Wright-Philipps to Craven Cottage is no nearer to completion.

Fulham Fact: Three of Fulham’s four league victories this season have been accompanied by a clean sheet.

 

Stoke City

Despite reaping praise on those which turned out on Tuesday night and recorded a 2-0 win over Cardiff City in South Wales, the Potters producing a typically gutsy performance to seal progress in the FA Cup, Stoke boss Tony Pulis insists survival in the Premiership is of utmost concern to him, his players and the club’s board of directors and he backed up his bold words by making wholesale changes in midweek. Now he’s expected to reverse those changes, although, the hero that night, Jonathan Walters, believes the performance of himself and his colleagues over in Cardiff should have given Pulis a selection headache ahead of the weekend’s trip to the capital.

It would be easy to presume that because of their FA Cup commitments during the week, Stoke will be feeling the strain of a gruelling 120 minutes of football away in Cardiff at Fulham’s Craven Cottage on Saturday. However, Tony Pulis provided everyone with an insight into his frame of mind following his decision to ring the changes for his side’s replay with Cardiff City on Tuesday, the objective being to keep the main bulk of his squad fresh ahead of another crucial league encounter. Robert Huth, Ryan Shawcross, Rory Delap, Matthew Ethrington and Kenwyn Jones were among those who weren’t even named in the squad are expected to jump straight back into the starting XI feeling fit as a fiddle for their midweek admittance.

It has been a stop-start couple of months for the Potters, who have been winning and losing their league fixtures in alternating fashion since the beginning of December. Should the pattern continue, with Stoke having won 3 and lost 3 of their last six league contests, then a second defeat within the space of a month at the hands of Fulham awaits them at Craven Cottage, where they’ve conjured just one goal in their last two league visits but were 1-0 winners last season. Stoke entertained the Cottagers in their final game of 2011 at the Brittania but went down 2-0 courtesy of two early Chris Baird strikes.

Stoke haven’t fared at all well against sides from the English capital this season, a 1-1 draw at home to bottom-of-the-league West Ham their only points from fixtures against teams from London. Their only previous visit to the capital this season resulted in a routine defeat away at Chelsea, Stoke 2-0 losers that day, though the fact Tony Pulis has virtually a full-strength squad to choose from is a massive boost for their chances of amending such a dismal record against London rivals (W0 D1 L3).

Stoke Fact: Ten of their twelve away goals have come in the econd half, the miscellaneous two both coming away at Wigan Athletic.

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Last 5 Results

Fulham

Premiership: Wigan Athletic 1-1 Fulham
FA Cup: Fulham 6-2 Peterborough
Premiership: Fulham 3-0 West Brom
Premiership: Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Fulham
Premiership: Stoke City 0-2 Fulham

Stoke City

FA Cup (Replay): Cardiff City 0-2 (aet) Stoke City
Premiership: Stoke City 2-0 Bolton Wanderers
FA Cup: Stoke City 1-1 Cardiff City
Premiership: Manchester United 2-1 Stoke City
Premiership: Stoke City 2-0 Everton

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Head-to-Head (Last 5 Seasons)

2010/2011: Stoke City 0-2 Fulham

2009/2010: Fulham 0-1 Stoke City
2009/2010: Stoke City 3-2 Fulham

2008/2009: Fulham 1-0 Stoke City
2008/2009: Stoke City 0-0 Fulham

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2010/2011 Premiership Statistics

Fulham

League Position: 15th
Win-Draw-Lose: 4-11-7 (Home: 3-5-3)
Goal Difference: 23-25 (Home: 14-14)
Form: LWLWD (Home: LDDLW)
Top Scorer: Clint Dempsey (6)

Stoke City

League Position: 8th
Win-Draw-Lose: 9-3-10 (Away: 3-1-6)
Goal Difference: 28-26 (Away: 12-14)
Form: WLWLW (Away: LWDWL)
Top Scorer: Kenwyn Jones (5)

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 Betting Odds & Tips

 Match Prediction: Fulham to WIN – 2.25 Bet365

Tony Pulis prioritised survival above everything else and after ringing the changes for Wednesday’s 2-0 victory over Cardiff in Wales, the straight-talking Potters boss is expected to recall all of his big guns for the trip to Craven Cottage. However, the Cottagers are in a rich vein of form following a three-match streak without losing, scoring an encouraging amount of goals in the New Year as well, 10 so far from just three matches, albeit six of those coming against League Two opposition. Even so, the goals will have only benefited the forward’s self-belief while recent positive results has breathed some fresh impotence into the Fulham dressing room.

Victory For Fulham on their own turf would complete a league double over Stoke, it would also be their third straight win at home. It would appear the tide is finally beginning to turn in Mark Hughes’ favour.

Value Bet: Andy Johnson – First Goalscorer – 9.00 Betinternet

Scorer of Fulham’s equalier last time out at Wigan, his first of the season, unleashed the AJ of old?

 

Match Odds:

Fulham – 2.25 Bet365
Draw – 3.40 SkyBet
Stoke City – 3.75 VictorChandler