Fulham at Wolverhampton

Things feel a lot different from when Fulham faced Wolverhampton back in November. In late November after 12 matches the only teams Fulham had beaten were Luton, Sheffield, and Everton. Because of that Fulham position in 16th felt a little uncomfortable. Despite getting the win through two penalties that Wolves fans felt were unfair, the win helped calm things down a little. In the 14 matches since Fulham have added 6 more wins including victories against West Ham, Brighton, Manchester United, and Arsenal. Fulham feels more settled now and it would be great to go to Molineux and show that the November wasn't a fluke.

It should be close based on the stats. If Fulham wins they will be tied on points with Wolves and move ahead based on goal differential. The teams have nearly the same record over the last eight matches with Fulham earning 14 points to Wolverhampton's 13. Wolverhampton's offense has scored one more goal than Fulham this season while Fulham's defense has given up one fewer than Wolverhampton. The one stat that isn't in Fulham's favor is their poor away record, but after a win at Old Trafford anything seems possible now.

Wolverhampton will be without their top scorers Hwang and Cunha while Fulham will have a nearly full squad with only Raul unavailable. I'll be interested to see how Silva incorporates Palhinha back into the lineup after Lukic and Reed did so well in his absence.

Fulham really has no worries now, they can play for fun and just see what happens. A win and they will have their longest win streak of the season and move into the top half of the table for at least two days. The match kicks off at 10am EST on Peacock.

 

Today was a combination of a well prepared Wolves team and a Fulham squad who just seemed a little off. With so many injured players Fulham should have been able to take advantage, but Wolves played with a lot of heart and discipline. Credit to Lemina who played an outstanding match all over the pitch.

Also, I realize Silva didn't want to fix something that wasn't broken, but he didn't start his best squad today. I think things might have been different had Palhinha and Cairney started and Fulham might have played with more direction and focus. Still, Fulham made enough chances early to win, but they didn't finish and eventually Wolves got their chances and a bit of luck to get two goals. When Palhinha did come on he just seemed pissed and was lucky to have not been sent off on a second yellow.

Back down to earth for Fulham.

 

When Palhinha went in I thought, “Hmm, there’s 21 minutes left, I wonder if he will avoid a card.” I barely finished that thought before the ref was reaching into his pocket.

Fulham’s struggle to finish opportunities was in full view today. Their xG was 2.70 and had 4 big chances but only scored on a happenstance flick.

The full team struggled with connecting passes today. Tosin, Robinson, Reed and Wilson are all players I recall that sent passes to no one. Muniz also struggled with his back to goal. This is a match to simply move on from…. and go practice finishing.