After an excellent Europa League fixture against AS Roma we turn our eyes back towards the Premier League and a fixture against Manchester City up in Coronation Street land! Can Fulham wrestle anything from the fixture?
Vital Quotes:
The furore over those two extra officials drafted in for the Europa League continues to rumble on with Brede Hangeland, who was almost sent off due to ineptitude amongst the six officials, commenting,
“It is a bit of a waste of resources. About every 50 games or so they`ll have an influence on a decision and that will probably just be a goal line decision. I`m a bit confused by it all.”
And so were we, meanwhile Aaron Hughes can`t help but remember a previous visit to Manchester whereby we engineered a victory when a defeat looked likely, commenting,
“That was a game that we all look back on and maybe it was the turning point. It kept us up.”
One of the best end of seasons I can remember! Fantastic days although the nerves never really settled until the final whistle went down at Frattton Park.
City Team News:
Manchester City, desperate to get into the so-called big four, dropped two points up at the DW Stadium last weekend. It`ll be interesting to see if Mark Hughes will recall Craig Bellamy and Kolo Toure, both of whom missed the fixture.
Definitely out will be Zabaletta who is suspended and Robinho, their Brazilian wonder-boy, will also be out after suffering a set back in his return from injury. All round naughty-boy, Adebayor, faces a test on an ankle knock he picked up.
Player to watch: Craig Bellamy
This guy just has something about him, pace, guile and the ability to get in your face, can`t help liking the guy!
Fulham Team News:
After the disappointment of conceding that late equaliser to AS Roma Roy Hodgson takes his squad north without the injured Danny Murphy, Andrew Johnson, Dickson Etuhu and Simon Davies.
Dikagcoi is also suspended so Roy will have to utilize a few fringe players to get us through this one.
Fulham might, and it is a big might, line up as follows:-
Schwarzer, Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky, Dempsey, Baird, Greening, Duff, Zamora and Kamara.
Player to watch: Diomansy Kamara
Can the fleet-footed forward repeat his historic feat of two seasons ago when a pair of strikes kick-started our Premier League survival campaign? It`d be nice to see history repeated would it not?
Match Facts & Stats
How about this for a smart fact? City have won their last six Premier League home games, in fact they`ve won twelve out of their last thirteen, guess who beat them? Yes! Us!
Ref Watch:
Kevin Friend is the man in charge.
Match Prediction:
We pushed Manchester City all the way in a recent Carling Cup tie with a starting eleven that was far from our best, hopefully we`ll do the same on Sunday but I`ll be totally honest and I reckon the best we can hope for is a draw, 1-1 anybody?
Next Fixtures:
After travelling to Eastlands (or the City of Manchester Stadium) we return to Craven Cottage next weekend to see if we can put another nail in the coffin of Liverpool`s Premier League season.
