Friday Fulham Stuff (27/04/18)...

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Pundit makes exciting prediction ahead of Hull City v Cardiff City

David Prutton is expecting Cardiff City to edge a thrilling contest with Hull City tomorrow when the two go up against each other at the KCOM Stadium.

Writing in his prediction column for Sky Sports, Prutton has predicted Cardiff to beat Hull 3-2 in an entertaining contest at the KCOM Stadium tomorrow afternoon.

The home side are in a good position, clear of the threat of relegation and playing with freedom.

Nigel Adkins' side are looking to finish the season strongly, but will face a stern test this weekend, with promotion-chasing Cardiff visiting.

Neil Warnock's Bluebirds are licking their wounds following Tuesday night's 3-1 defeat to Derby County, which has left the race for second wide open.

Cardiff are competing with Fulham for the second automatic promotion place, with the Cottagers in action this evening against Sunderland and looking to pile the pressure on Warnock.

Despite still holding a lofty position, the pressure has clearly been getting to Warnock's side in recent weeks, with Cardiff suffering three defeats in their last five fixtures.

That run of form has let Fulham into the race, with victory for the Cottagers tonight moving them second ahead of Cardiff's clash with Hull.

The Verdict 

Depending on Fulham's result against Sunderland tonight, this could be make or break for Cardiff.

A Fulham loss, combined with a Cardiff victory, will see Warnock's side promoted, but if Fulham win, the pressure will firmly be on the Bluebirds heading to Hull.

The Tigers are playing well heading into this weekend and will be looking to punish a faltering Cardiff side.



https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/pundit-makes-exciting-prediction-ahead-of-hull-city-v-cardiff-city/

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Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic: 'Sunderland will be dangerous

Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic has suggested that facing already-relegated Sunderland is "a dangerous situation" for his team.

The Cottagers head into the game in West London still with a chance of gaining automatic promotion to the Premier League, while the Black Cats were relegated to League One last weekend.

However, Jokanovic has acknowledged that the North-East outfit now have little but pride to play for, and have already defeated Fulham earlier in the season.

The 49-year-old told the club's official website: "Sunderland is a team that beat us last time, we have experience of losing against them, but we are ready for any team and any situation.

"They will come here relaxed and want to make the Sunderland fans satisfied. They will try and be proud and fight for the Sunderland crest. This can be a very dangerous situation for us and we must be ready."

Fulham have not suffered defeat at the second tier in 22 fixtures.



https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/fulham/news/jokanovic-sunderland-will-be-dangeorus_324519.html

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Kevin McDonald: 'Cardiff City won't avoid Fulham's televised fixture'

Fulham midfielder Kevin McDonald has suggested that he wants his team to make a statement in the club's televised Championship fixture with Sunderland.

With two matches remaining, Fulham are one point adrift of second-placed Cardiff City but the Cottagers can move ahead of their rivals with victory over the Black Cats on Friday night.

McDonald has acknowledged that Fulham have a chance to steal an advantage in the promotion race and thinks that Cardiff will have no choice but to watch the match in their team hotel ahead of their fixture with Hull City on Saturday afternoon.

The Scot told the London Evening Standard: "We know what it is like sitting in a hotel on Friday night, so they will be watching. There is nothing else to do. They will be watching and hoping Sunderland do them a favour, so it is up to us to get three points.

"If we win they will have an added bit of pressure when they play. I watched the first 20 minutes of their game on Tuesday but my head was going watching it and I was getting a bit stressed, and my missus was as well, so we turned it over and watched Liverpool and tried to relax. It was a nice result for us and a disappointing one for them."

Fulham head into the game having not suffered defeat in 22 matches.



https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/fulham/news/mcdonald-cardiff-will-watch-fulham-on-tv_324518.html

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PREVIEW: Fulham host Sunderland in desperate need of three points

Fulham welcome Sunderland to Craven Cottage on Friday evening, hoping to regain the second automatic promotion spot.

Fulham comfortably dispatched Millwall at The Den last time out, and a win against the Black Cats would see them leapfrog Cardiff and return to second.

Sunderland are already relegated and virtually have nothing to play for. However, they will be out to prove a massive shock and de-rail Fulham's promotion challenge.

Slavisa Jokanovic is expected to make changes to the side that beat Millwall. The Fulham boss has named an unchanged side for his past three games, which has seen them pick up wins over Reading and Millwall, as well as a last gasp draw with Brentford.

Floyd Ayite and Sheyi Ojo missed those games via injury, but may return for the clash with the Black Cats.

Sunderland will be without winger Aiden McGeady. The Irishman has been suffering with a heel injury for a long period of time, but with relegation a certainty, he will be rested.

Bryan Oviedo will be missing, as he is nursing a hamstring injury, whereas centre back Lamine Kone and striker Josh Maja are expected to shake off knocks in time to be fit for the trip to London.

Sunderland come into the game unbeaten in their last three away games. The last time they went on a four match unbeaten run away from the Stadium of Light was in May 2016.

Fulham will take some stopping as they are on a 22 match unbeaten run. They couldn't ask for a better game in their quest to move back into the automatic promotion spots.



http://the72.co.uk/101074/preview-fulham-host-sunderland-desperate-need-three-points/

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Three Players to Watch: Matchday 45 vs. Sunderland
Cardiff has given Fulham another lifeline. Can the boys take care of business in the final home fixture of the season?

In one of the most important games of the campaign, Fulham was able to ride barrage after barrage from a Millwall side that was really going for it. If anything, the 3-0 final score by the good guys really hid the story that it really should have been much closer than it actually was. If it wasn't for a Jake Cooper header that went off the post instead of the back of the net and a Jed Wallace foul that disallowed a George Saville goal, Fulham genuinely would have been in loads of trouble. Instead, Fulham made do with the luck, whether fair or not, that was given to them and displayed a second-half masterclass that is starting to become familiar with this team. It has to be a reminder how special this group of players is with the way they performed, especially in times of stress and perseverance.

Now that the job is done by facing two of their toughest foes, now they have to face a club that simply in one of the darkest places imaginable. It's one thing to get relegated from the Championship. It's another to be relegated from the Championship after being relegated from the Premier League. That is where Sunderland are and the chances of them and their supporters to climb out of the misery that they are in will take years, if not a generation for them to recover. Only time will tell what damage has been done, but it is quite clear that the Stadium of Light has been one of the most depressing places to go to throughout this decade. Fortunately for the players, they will play their next game away from home, but that still doesn't mean that the pain of being relegated will still not be out of their minds.

In minutia, the club hasn't been the same since the losses to James Vaughan, Didier Ndong and especially Lewis Grabban at the January transfer window. While the team has performed quite well for a relegated side based off of expected goals (22.7-24.0 since the start of February), they simply don't have the depth in talent to be able to cash in up front, nor do they have the creativity in midfield to break the opposition down. Along with that, Chris Coleman's side has maintained their conservative 4-1-4-1 formation over the past month. Add in the fact that aging players like John O'Shea and Lee Cattermole being a part of the spine of the team as well as using three goalkeepers with significant playing time and you see a senior team that just needs a complete overhaul everywhere. It's just too bad they will have to do it in League One.

With that in mind, here are the three players to watch in tonight's fixture.

Outside of Aiden McGeady, it is the 23-year old academy graduate who remains with the club and leads them in offensive contributions (6 goals, 2 assists). And while he has been a major contributor and one of the few positives for Sunderland this season, his radar shows how much work he still needs to do to be a complete footballer. Now that he is playing mostly in the center of midfield, his defensive contributions are showing quite well. However, his 1.26 shots per 90 minutes are simply not enough for him to be a consistent performer offensively. It Honeyman's 13.3% goal conversion rate, his six goals will be much smaller. Sunderland will hope to stay with the club as the last year of his contract will come in 2019. If Honeyman stays, his development will be critical to the club's short-term success.

Ashley Fletcher

Next up has been the air-apparent to Grabban since he left for Aston Villa. Unfortunately for Sunderland, the 22-year old Fletcher is a Middlesbrough loanee so it is quite doubtful for him to stay with the club after this season. He has done his best to make an impact for the club, but he just isn't productive enough to be a solid center forward at Championship level. To put things in perspective, Fletcher's radar looks similar to Chris Martin's in his loan season with Fulham. While he has got what it takes to score in bunches, his ability to keep his shot on target is not good enough at this stage of his career. However, Fletcher has been the one center forward being picked every time for Coleman, so he will be a key figure should Sunderland be able to unleash anything in attack tonight.

John O'Shea

All data from whoscored.com

Lastly, I do want to talk about a player that isn't so much a talented player now but has had a long career that should be recognized. While John O'Shea may not be planning on retiring after this season, the 36-year old is on the final year of his contract. Unless he truly is one of the most loyal servants in all of football, I seriously can't imagine the former Manchester United center back and 116-capped Ireland International wanting to continue playing for a club that is about to be in the third tier of English football. So would any club sign a player with this much experience or would they refuse to bring in someone that may just have too many miles on his body? To his credit, O'Shea has had his strongest effort in aerial duels won with 4.22 per 90 minutes in the nine years of data capture from whoscored.com. It will be fascinating to see how the rest of his footballing story will play out. The Championship has been full of aging stars like him before and it only takes one club to offer a contract.



https://cottagersconfidential.sbnation.com/2018/4/27/17291146/three-players-to-watch-matchday-45-vs-sunderland

[Steeeeeeeeeed]

Been a slow start from Fulham (20 mins gone), but just feels like they are stepping up a bit.

Would have thought Coleman would be happy to roll over for Fulham in this tie, has he got no soul (?) :)