Fulham vs. Cardiff

Fulham host Cardiff on a televised game in primetime on Friday night - in Britain at least. Here in the US it will be 3:15 pm EDT/12:15 pm PDT. The match will be on ESPN+.

Cardiff come to Craven Cottage holding on to the last playoff spot with just a single point between them and their arch-rivals, Swansea, in 7th place. So, they have a lot to play for. Fulham meanwhile would have to start Le Marchand in the next four matches to somehow miss the playoffs (oh wait, he's been on the roster in every match since the restart and has made 3 appearances so it isn't as crazy as it sounds!). Fulham is 7 points out of second place with only 12 points available, so West Brom or Leeds would have to experience a massive collapse (even for Leeds!) for Fulham to have a shot. Fulham is going to the playoffs, so my hope is that Mitro gets the chance to shake the rust off and no one gets injured - even Maxime Le Marchand.

 

Cairney is out. From whoscored.com. COYW!

Missing Players
PlayerReasonStatusRating
Tom CairneyOut7.01
PlayerReasonStatusRating
Isaac VassellOut5.92

Team News
Fulham

• Scott Parker could make one change to the starting XI that faced Nottingham Forest with winger Anthony Knockaert likely to replace Neeskens Kebano out wide.
• Midfielder Tom Cairney missed the Nottingham Forest game with a knock and will miss the clash with Cardiff as well.
• Serbian striker Aleksandar Mitrovic has served a three-match ban and is set to lead the line.

Cardiff

• Neil Harris will make a couple of changes to the side that lost against Blackburn with Marlon Pack and Lee Tomlin both likely to return.
• Striker Isaac Vassell is Cardiff's only confirmed absentee for the trip to Craven Cottage.

 

Mitro with the Captain's band... Cottage looks wonderful and the riverside stand seems to be coming along nicely.

Gotta say though the last two times I've seen the matches with enhanced sound, it is significantly louder than usual at the cottage

 

Hats off to Scott Parker for his part in getting things going in the right direction.

 

In the last 4 matches with 3 missing top scorer and 2 missing the captain.

 

Short highlights from Fulham:


I thought things looked a little shaky in the first half. Fulham was lucky to not be down by a goal after Arter made that sloppy pass and there was lots of other poor passing early on. And how is it that De Cordova-Reid always gets so close to a goal? He really did get unlucky today. (If you listen, you can hear Knockeart telling him what he thinks about not heading his cross into the net) Even being up by a goal, I still wasn't feeling good about the quality of play.

Things looked better in the second half, especially after Johansen came on. Arter saved Fulham while Mitro was out, but I much prefer Johansen in that role of "annoying midfielder". I loved the way Onomah and Johansen worked together on the second goal. I was also happy to see Sessegnon and McDonald both get some playing time late. Fulham in the second half looked like one that would do well in the playoffs.

Mitrovic's penalty shot was almost too good! He fired it so high into the upper corner I thought for a moment it was flying wide. Nope. Just a fantastic, unstoppable, PK.

Agree with others on Reed. He continues to be the best player by far since the restart. Fulham should sign that guy! Of course, with the way he's played it is more likely Southampton will want him back.

 

Watched the replay when I got home from work. Pretty much agree with Micah’s observations. Those first 15 or 20 minutes were almost unwatchable. A better opponent certainly would have capitalized on at least one, if not more, of those hideous passes. But they didn’t. Gift horse. Mouth. Don’t look.
Loved Mitro’s penalty. No keeper is ever gonna touch that ball, even if they guess correctly. They have to stay down, but even if they try high, no way.
I know others disagree, but I love StefJo. He’s as inconsistent as bad oatmeal, but his willingness to “try shit” (as people used to say about Deuce) coupled with a situational nasty streak make him the kind of player every side needs. The sequence between he and Onomah from the throw in was textbook for the 2nd goal. I truly enjoyed the multiple replays of it. Young Onomah has a quick, powerful trigger from the box. That’s a rare combination. Blink, boom, goal. It’ll be interesting to see how he develops. Only 23.
Despite some very dodgy moments, that’s three straight clean sheets since the awful 1st minute concession at QPR. And we responded with two unanswered to win that one. Could that match prove to be the turning point in this most bizarre of seasons? We shall see.
On to The Hawthorns Tuesday night!

 

Well, I have no idea what to make of this team right now. I suppose we're exactly where we should be: behind the best but ahead of the rest?

After a putrid restart Fulham, now have 4 straight wins & 3 straight clean sheets (if we're getting granular, it's quite close to 4 as QPR scored like 30 seconds in to that match).

Tonight could have easily(?) been a 5-0 win; or a defeat from an early Cardiff goal. We're in the playoffs, so let's focus on that for the next 3 matches.