Fulham Come Into This Game On The back Of Two Premier League Straight Victories And Clean Sheets With Scott Parker Wanting More. But Defeat For Warnock’s Side Could Mean The End For Cardiff. Team News. Manager Comments. Stats, And Prediction.
By: Marc Gingell
For some teams, being relegated with still a few games to go, can prove to be a confidence booster in a strange kind of way. They can play with no pressure. Fulham appears to be one of those teams.
This year they’ve produced three spirited home performances against top tier sides Liverpool, Tottenham, and Chelsea. Each game they lost 2-1 and those sides would have been relieved to have escaped from Craven Cottage with all three points.
Since Watford crushed them 4-1, which made their goals against total 76 and confirmed relegation lifting the pressure, Fulham have beaten in form Everton 2-0 at home and unpredictable Bournemouth 1-0 away. Interim manager Scott Parker will be hoping for more of the same against battling Cardiff
Match Details
| 27-04-2019 | Craven Cottage | Fulham (19) | v | Cardiff City (18) |
| KO:15:00 | REF: C Kavanagh | |||
Fulham Team News
- Unknown Return Date: Marcus Bettinelli Knee injury. Lazar Markovic Calf injury. Timothy Fosu-Mensah Knee injury.
- 75% Chance of Playing: Alfie Mawson Lack of match fitness. André Schürrle Personal Reasons.
Scott Parker Comments
“Relegation brings a lot of disappointment and uncertainty, and you understand the squad is going to change. When you’re at a football club with quality players, you’re in a position that if clubs come in and the players don’t want to be at the football club, you have a tough decision.
But the owners are very positive and will be doing everything in their power to keep the squad as strong as possible going into next season.
It’s always nice to hear that players I’m coaching are appreciative of what we’re doing. That’s helpful, but ultimately I’ll get judged on results and what my team looks like every weekend, and I’m fine with that.
At times this year, we’ve been quite naive, but certainly, over the last matches, we’ve managed games really well and protected our goal.
They come on Saturday fighting for their lives, and I’m looking at this game thinking it’s probably one of the toughest we’ve had, certainly since I’ve been here, due to the manager we’re facing and the fact the team is scrapping.
I think we realise the challenge and we’ll get that message into the players for the weekend.”
Cardiff Team News
- Unknown Return Date: Sol Bamba Knee injury. Matthew Connolly Ankle injury. Callum Paterson Ankle injury.
- 50% Chance of Playing: Harry Arter Calf injury.
Opta Stats
- Fulham have lost just one of their last eight meetings with Cardiff in all competitions (W3 D4).
- Cardiff have won all three of their Premier League meetings with Fulham, picking up a 2-1 victory in their only previous visit to Craven Cottage in the competition.
- The home side hasn’t lost any of the last 23 Premier League meetings between two promoted clubs (W15 D8), since Leicester won 1-0 at Burnley in April 2015. The last seven sides to win away at a fellow promoted side have all avoided relegation.
- Cardiff have lost nine of their 11 previous Premier League games in London (W1 D1 L9).
- Fulham have won their last two Premier League games, last winning three in a row in the competition back in March 2012 under Martin Jol.
- Fulham have kept a clean sheet in their last two Premier League games, as many as they had in their previous 37 games in the competition.
- Cardiff have lost seven of their last nine league games (W2), conceding at least twice in each loss.
- Cardiff are looking to secure back-to-back top-flight away wins for the first time since February 1957, having won at Brighton in their last game on the road.
- Aleksandar Mitrovic has scored the winning goal in five of Fulham’s six Premier League victories this season. The Serbian has scored the highest percentage of his side’s winners among all players in the competition this season (83%).
- Cardiff’s Bobby Reid has scored in each of his four league starts against Fulham in the league, also providing an assist in the Bluebirds’ 4-2 win in the reverse fixture in October. In fact, against no side has he scored more league goals than he has against Fulham (4).
Prediction
Cardiff are battling and they won’t go down without a fight. Last season, with both teams in the Championship, Fulham were on a roll and seemed destined to catch Cardiff in second place. But Warnock’s team dug in and Fulham did it the hard way through the play-offs. That mentality, and the fact that they still have some hope of escaping, should be enough to see Cardiff across the line.
Víctor Camarasa could be the difference between the two sides.
Fulham 1 Cardiff 2
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