Mark Hughes has handed Moussa Dembele a first league start as he searches for an end to Fulham’s away-day woes at Bloomfield Road this afternoon.
Dembele, who scored his first goal for Fulham in the League Cup on Wednesday night against Port Vale, replaces Clint Dempsey in one of two changes from the side that drew with Manchester United last Sunday. The other sees Stephen Kelly come in for Paul Konchesky, who is on Merseyside for a medical with Liverpool.
Ian Holloway has handed new signing Luke Varney an immediate debut as part of a front three. Varney, signed from Derby County this week, will be joined up front by veteran Brett Ormerod, who replaces the injured Marlon Harewood, and Gary Taylor-Fletcher, who got the Seasiders’ Premier League campaign off to a dream start up at Wigan two weeks ago.
BLACKPOOL (4-3-3): Gilks; Baptiste, Crainey, Cathcart, Evatt; Adam, Vaughan, Grandin; Taylor-Fletcher, Varney, Ormerod. Subs: Halstead, Eardley, Keinan, Euell, Sylvestre, Basham, Demontagnac.
FULHAM (4-4-1-1): Stockdale; Pantsil, Kelly, Hughes, Hangeland; Etuhu, Murphy, Davies, Duff; Dembele; Zamora. Subs: Zuberbuhler, Briggs, Baird, Greening, Riise, Gera, Dempsey.
