The Premier League resumes for Fulham with an interesting fixture against Hull City. After a two week break for internationals, Fulham will be keen to get back into the swing of things even if some strange quirk means we now have to play Monday and Thursday evenings of this week.
Vital Quotes:
Managers often pick up on quotes from opposing players and use them as a means of motivating their own.
Ahead of the encounter with Hull City, Roy Hodgson may well want to point out that Kevin Kilbane has plenty to say about the corresponding fixture last season, remarking,
“The last time at Fulham was my first win in a Hull City shirt so that made it important for me.”
“We were on the back of a bad run and we proved we have that little bit of resilience and character to stand up and get results when needed.”
How about we stand up and show some character of our own on Monday evening lads?
Fulham Team News:
Roy Hodgson selects his first starting eleven for a fortnight knowing that he`ll not be able to select Kagisho Dikagcoi after the South African received a red card on his debut last time out.
Also missing will be Simon Davies who has had a piece f floating bone removed from his troublesome foot. Young keeper, David Stockdale also remains on the injured list.
However, Roy is able to welcome back Damien Duff after the Irish international shook off a calf problem.
Here at Vital Fulham we expect Fulham to line us follows:-
Schwarzer, Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Dempsey, Murphy, Etuhu, Duff, Johnson and Kamara.
Player to watch: Danny Murphy
There`s every chance that Danny will be playing opposite his former colleague, Jimmy Bullard, Danny will be keen to keep our passing game ticking over and making sure it is an unhappy possible return to Craven cottage for Jimmy.
Hull City Team News:
Hull, sitting in the relegation zone, arrive at Craven Cottage hoping Jimmy Bullard can make a return to action. Phil Brown is without the services of Ashbee and Garcia, both of whom have knee injuries and Gardner and Cooper are both rated doubtful.
Apart from Bullard, players to watch out for include Geovanni who can score from distance whilst the much travelled Nicky Barmby could well feature for his home town club.
Player to watch: Jimmy Bullard
A little part of me really hopes that Jimmy takes those first strides back into Premier League football. Although the rumours persist that he deserted us for a crock of gold he was a character and a character we all fell in love with.
Match Facts & Stats
Last season Hull City, in their first season in the Premier League, won both fixtures. Going back further, thirteen years to be exact, we find that Fulham beat Hull City 3-0 in the Fourth Division, our only home victory in the last seven fixtures between the club at Craven Cottage. Supporters might also recall that last season, in the corresponding fixture, Hull emerged victorious in the 90th minute!
Ref Watch:
Andre Marriner is the man in the middle
Match Prediction:
After losing to Hull on both occasions last season I`d like to see us get something out of this one. We`ve had a poor start to the season, or should that be an indifferent start, nevertheless our last outing, at West Ham, saw a spirited show and we should have taken, even though we were down to ten men, all three points. On this occasion, despite the possible return of Jimmy Bullard to the Hull City ranks, I`m taking Fulham to win by the odd goal in three.
Next Fixtures:
Our next fixture, on Thursday sees Fulham entertain AS Roma in a glamour tie, well as glamorous as the Europa League can get we suspect.
