Fulham gets the early kickoff again when they face Aston Villa on Saturday. Coverage starts at 7:30am EDT on USA Network.
All I want from this one is an exciting game. A Fulham goal would be terrific since those have been hard to come by recently. Other than the Burnley game, Fulham hasn't scored since March 1. The Liverpool and Brentford games were also flat and lacked any punch. Silva tried rotating out players, but the energy levels were about the same. This just seems to be Fulham under Silva as they coast to another mid-table finish.
Fulham will have to get things done without Iwobi who is still out after injuring his hamstring last week. That leaves a big question mark on the left side since neither Bobb or Chukwueze have looked good there recently. I imagine one of them will get the start, but there is always a chance we'll see Sessegnon in that spot, although I'd prefer him at LB over Robinson. Wilson will certainly start on the right and might be taking a close look at his future squad since a move to Aston Villa would be a good match for both of them if Villa can find the funds. Up top things haven't looked good recently with Raul or Muniz. Heck, Kusi-Asare is still on the squad, why not give him a shot?! Let's get some guys out there who at least want to have some fun and make a go of it.
Yes! Thank you Fulham! That is what I wanted to see! Really good energy, especially in the first half to press Aston Villa. Shots on target and even a rare first half goal!
Fulham did a great job of keeping Villa uncomfortable and unable to get anything going. Sessegnon did a great job of locking down McGinn while Lukic and Berge made it very difficult to pass through the middle.
The goal was fantastic team play from Chukwueze winning the ball, his nutmeg to Castagne, Castagne's perfect cross, a good attempt from Lukic, and then classic Johnny-on-the-spot Sessegnon to put it away. Fulham should have had more too. The call that pulled back Castagne's goal was soft, but I get it. The feed from Google apparently thought it should have been a goal too, because it left the score 2-0 for Fulham until nearly the end of the match! Chukwueze deserved to have two assists that didn't make it into the highlights. He put a great through ball in for Raul, but he wasn't ready for it and had pulled back on the run he was starting. Otherwise it would have been a great opportunity for Raul. Then Chukwueze put Muniz in on goal, but his first touch was terrible and the danger was gone. Plus there was the chance that Wilson had to feed the ball to an open Raul, but instead he made the wrong choice for a deflected shot.
I'd give Sess my Man of the Match vote for great work on both sides of the ball. I just hope his late hamstring pull isn't too serious. On a positive note, the few minutes that Robinson had were pretty solid.
This was so nice to see after two really disappointing performances. The rest of the season doesn't seem like all drudgery now.
Completely agree here. During the game, I was telling my dog how good the press was from Fulham. They did not make anything easy for Villa… and they never seemed to get caught out. Two clean sheets in a row!
Sessegnon definitely deserves a mention for man of the match, but I’ll go with Lukic. He was everywhere it seemed (and managed to complete the match without being carded). Everybody was working today though. ESR was constantly putting himself in good positions and drawing fouls. Bassey and Andersen were stepping up at the right times. And even though it didn’t count, Castagne put a ball into the net!
It often surprises me when I forget all the quality that some of these teams have on their bench. Fulham matched that today. They stood tall and shut Villa down.
On a related note, why is it that it seems like every match at the Cottage has the visitors attacking the Putney End in the second half? Fulham must be losing the coin toss, because I would never want my opponents to be attacking, and potentially scoring, right in front of their fans. That’s an additional boost that I’d rather not allow my opponent. It’d be different if Fulham were blowing teams out, but we all know Fulham loves a close match.
I agree that we definitely saw an improved performance. Our moods would likely have been different if not for the two first-half near misses from Watkins and Rogers--most other days both probably go in. I didn't expect anything from this game, so in my book it's 3 extra points. I'm not expecting anything from Arsenal either. But getting less than 7 points from the last three games (Bournemouth, Wolves, Newcastle) would be disappointing. Maybe, just maybe this game gave us a chance at a spot in Europe; we'll see.
Tripping through the season and falling into Europe, stubbed toes and all, would be Fulhamish.
COYW