Fulham vs. Aston Villa

Aston Villa comes to the Cottage on Monday with the best form over the last 10 matches despite a loss on Saturday to Reading and a draw with Burton before that. Thankfully we've had two good matches following some stinkers after our win at Newcastle. We will almost certainly be without Martin since the red card appeal will still be in the works. Villa beat us earlier in the year when Kodjia had lovely acrobatic shot after Button muffed a clearance.

Aston Villa is the only team left that can get two wins on us this season. The only other teams to do that are Brighton and Hove, and Birmingham. Birmingham?! 2 of their 11 wins are against Fulham? Ugh.

Over the remaining matches we have the most difficult schedule with our opponents in 8th place on average. Wednesday's average opponent rank is 12th, Leeds' 17th, and Reading 22nd! The longest win streak for Fulham and Leeds is three matches, Wednesday four matches, so all are likely to falter over the coming four fixtures. We could probably lose once and still make the playoffs, but it sure would be nice if we could make this win #3 in an eventual 8 game win streak.

UPDATE: Martin's appeal failed. He won't be available until the last match. http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2017/april/16/red-card-appeal

 

If we're gonna play like we did Friday, let's just spot all the rest of our opponents an extra man at kickoff. Well, maybe not.
What to do without Martin? He had perhaps one of his best games w/o scoring against Ipswich before the incident at Norwich. Would you do a straight up swap for Cyriac or Piazon? Or do you alter the lineup elsewhere to cover for his absence? We shall see.

 

ALSO, not the usual weekday start time; 6:45 am on the left coast. COYW!!!!

 

Wake up left coasters! The lineup has been posted and it is almost game time.

They went for the altered lineup with Sessegnon moving up so Ayite can come forward.

Bettinelli
Fredericks, Kalas, Ream, Malone
McDonald, Johansen
Aluko, Cairney, Sessegnon
Ayite

Button, Madl, Sigurdson, Parker, Piazon, Kebano, Cyriac

We played a similar lineup vs. Newcastle and Blackburn. Work well once and not as much the other.

 

A big giant WTF?? Get up at 4:30 to get some work done, knowing I'll only be able to catch the second half live...and Ipswich v Newcastle is on We're on tape delay at 11 pst. Setting the DVR, but I'm entirely too undisciplined not to find out the score (it's halftime right now). Hey BEin or beIN or whatever other stupid way they want it to look...

 

Amen SoCal. get out out of meeting to come back to NEWCASTLE! Maybe I should be mad at HD for getting my hopes up.

 

Into 6th past Leeds on goal difference!

 

That crap network strikes again. Those ______ are replaying the damn Newcastle game instead our match that is on the guide

 

People, start your engines...here we go. 5th or 6th place, really, is no difference - go on a run and hit 4th or 3rd, that's something. COYW.

 

I saw that bein was showing the match live on one of their streaming channels. I don't get the streaming channels, so I didn't bother watching - just followed through my football app and twitter.

I got a little nervous when they pulled one back. The team must have thought that being up a goal and up a man would result to smooth sailing (as I thought). We have sneaked back into playoff position but have three tough matches to finish the season.

 

Not to second guess Joka, but if I'm a player, I'm wondering: a) why Bettinelli hasn't been starting until recently and: b) why Sessegnon isn't starting every match.

 

I. LOVE. THIS. VIDEO. (except for the fact they left JOKA out of it...)

 

That was the best moment when Gentleman Jim was seemingly in tears "I love Fulham! I love fulham..."

 

This makes me miss GJ so much! Nuts. Alright, fine FFC! You win! I'll get FFC TV next year.

 

From your Texan lips to God's astute ears.

COYW

 

Just finished watching the 90 minutes, we looked unbelievable.

I agree the Red card was a little soft, but Kodija throws him to the ground, stands over him and then gives him a short kick to the leg. The three combined is too much. It also didn't help that they had committed 3 strong fouls against Fredricks already.

Johansen, was another player who looked like he was burning, winning tackles including the one that leads to the transition to the first goal.

I think Slava saw something he doesn't like from the defense or specifically Scott Malone on the defensive end -his service from the Left Wing was really good all match up till he was substituted. And combined with the chance to keep Sess on the field but out of the papers with another brace, he amkes a quick decisive change and slots him into the back, where he played just as well as he did up front. Love that from a manager.

Kebano, Ayite, Aluko all incredibly dangerous...

Bring on Huddersfield!