Fulham at Hull City

Fulham sit 11th and 6 points adrift of 6th place - with a GD+2. Hull sit 19th. To keep the good juju going, I will ignore this match until the final whistle and hopefully Fulham will end 2017 with 3 points to kick off the playoff push in 2018. Match preview from the BBC - http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/42463026

COYW
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Hull City's top scorer Jarrod Bowen could start against Fulham, having had to make do with a place on the bench for the Tigers' past two matches.

Jon Toral is likely to miss out after sustaining a knock against Derby on Boxing Day, while Kamil Grosicki (ankle) will be assessed.

Aboubakar Kamara is being monitored by Fulham after missing the 4-2 win at Cardiff because of illness.

Rui Fonte and Lucas Piazon may also be recalled by the Cottagers.

SAM's prediction
Home win 34%Draw 28%Away win 38%
SAM, the Sports Analytics Machine, is a super-computer built by @ProfIanMcHale of the University of Liverpool.

MATCH FACTS

• Hull have won their last four home league matches against Fulham - the Cottagers' last league win there came at Boothferry Park in October 1996.
• Fulham have beaten Hull twice in 2017 - winning in the FA Cup in January and in the Championship in September - and last beat an opponent three times in a calendar year in 2014 against Norwich.
• After scoring three times in a win over Brentford in Nigel Adkins' first game in charge, Hull have failed to find the net in each of their three games since (D1 L2).
• Slavisa Jokanovic's side are looking to record three consecutive Championship wins for the first time since April (a run of four wins).
• Twelve different Hull players have scored a league goal at the KCOM Stadium this season - only Brentford have had as many different scorers in home fixtures (also 12).
• Ryan Sessegnon has been directly involved in five of Fulham's last nine away goals in the Championship (four goals and one assist).

 

@nevzter beat me to the punch on this one. Here's some more background...

On Saturday Fulham makes the trip north to take on Hull City. Fulham defeated Hull 2-1 back in September to get our first home win of the season. Hull has not scored in their past three matches after scoring 7 in the three matches prior to this dry spell. Despite that they are still tied for the fifth highest goals scored total in the Championship (unfortunately for Hull they are also tied for fourth for the most goals given up). Hull currently sits four points above the relegation zone in 19th place. They only have one victory against a team above them in the table - a 3-2 victory over Brentford in early December, the only win so far for new manager Nigel Atkins. This season has been a disaster for them after relegation from the Premier League, just not quite as bad as Sunderland's season.

For once everyone should be healthy for Fulham, but I don't see any reason to alter the lineup we had on Tuesday. Please Slavisa - keep Sessegnon up front! Don't feel obligated to move him back just because Piazon is healthy again!

 

Outstanding preview gentlemen, COYW!!!!

EDIT: Down by 2 goals at halftime, only to comeback and grab a point? Not too shabby.

 

Can’t be too disappointed to get a point on the road after being two goals down at the half. Not sure how we lapse into these spells of kamikaze defending, but I guess that’s the reality at the moment. Still showing more character under Joka than any of his predecessors. Would have folded like a house of cards. Kamara would be hot transfer talk if he were consistent. He singlehandedly won the penalty he buried, and that equalizer in traffic was special.
Could this be the most important point come May? Dunno, but when you come back down 2 goals away from home at a good club to get something, that’s special.

 

Hull City is one of the few teams that, like Fulham, doesn't post highlights on YouTube. I'm glad most other teams haven't followed Fulham's lead in that regard. So who knows how long these highlights will be available:


While I was hoping for three points going into this, I agree that given the first half we had this wasn't a bad result. @jumpkutz is right that Fulham teams under many other managers would have given up - Joka's Fulham rarely does. Plus with Sheffield United losing to Bolton (At home! Since we beat them they've only won one match) we gained a point on sixth place.

 

I know highlights can be deceiving but I do feel fortunate ta walk away with a draw after watching the video above.