Fulham v Aston Villa

Fulham host Aston Villa tomorrow with another decent chance to solidify their mid-table standing. The match will be aired on Peacock at 10am EST.

Aston Villa are currently fifth in the table and will probably fancy their chance to at least maintain their five point advantage over sixth place Man U. However, both Aston Villa and Fulham have managed eight points from their last seven league matches. And since no match in the Premier League is a gimme, this could be pretty tight.

Bassey and Iwobi return to Fulham following their run to the AFCON final with Nigeria. I haven’t heard anything about their fitness but if ready, Iwobi would be immediately welcomed back into the midfield to give some players a brief respite. Bassey would also probably slot right back into the left center back position, unless Silva opts for consistency. Regardless of these positions, the biggest need is to keep Muniz hot. Fulham need to scare the Villans back line a bit in order to keep them from dictating the match.

In looking in my crystal (magic 8?) ball, I see a draw - likely 1-1

 

Will Muniz score?? I have to think his hot hand comes to an end, but I like Fulham's chances - especially if Iwobi comes in as a second half sub with Willian and maybe Wilson to try and make things happen. Tim Ream looked excellent last weekend, but I won't be surprised and I won't complain if Bassey takes his place.

I'll be perfectly happy if Fulham pulls off the draw Evan saw in his crystal magic 8 ball.

 

That first goal was a frustrating one to give up. Just a really bad choice from Robinson and poor reaction from Willian. The second one made me wonder what Diop was up to - Watkins played him to perfection to get him out of position. Diop and Ream had done a generally good job of jumping in front of passes, but Watkins fake got the better of them.

The team did a nice job of responding in the second half and Muniz's score felt like a repeat of last week but from a reverse angle. Once Iwobi and then Bassey came on the team felt a lot more dangerous and I thought a draw might be possible. It is unfortunate Traore couldn't put his shot away, but Martinez is really good. Also unfortunate Fulham will be without Palhinha for two matches, but that felt inevitable with how frequently he gets yellows.

 

The first one hurt. At least I have an example to show my future 3rd graders of what not to do when soccer season rolls around.

 

No one is talking about the back pass to Martinez, and that we should have had an indirect free kick from two yards out. But the refereeing was shaky for both sides.

Suddenly, scoring isn't a problem for us, but we make mistakes we shouldn't that lead to opposition goals. Having Bassey and Iwobi back may help with that. Paradoxically (since we have Palhinha and his insane defensive stats), I don't think our center backs get enough help from the DMids in front of them. When we're on the back foot, there is often a gap 20-25 yards out. It makes the CBs look bad, but it's a larger positioning problem. I'm curious how the combination of Lukic and Reed or the more aggressive Lukic/Cairney will do against ManU.

 

That's right! I did forget about that! It was such a clear back pass. The refereeing from the rookie was poor all around. I thought Fulham was lucky not to have given up a penalty when Diop took down Watkins.

 

The magic crystal 8 ball apparently was a little cloudy regarding Robinson’s hockey assist on the first goal. I’ve often felt like throw-ins are a weak spot for Fulham. Might as well just give it to the other team half the time.

I don’t know what happened on the second goal. Ream and Diop had swapped but I don’t know when. I also don’t know if that had any part in the play, but it seemed as if Diop just forgot where he was or that he didn’t have cover for Watkins. When I saw that pass go through, I was already blurting out “Are you kidding me?” Fulham make it so easy for the opposition at times.

The bright side is that Fulham didn’t give up the fight and made it fairly interesting the rest of the way.