Martin Jol was sounding a realistic note during his pre-match press conference yesterday, acknowledging Manchester City’s phenomenal home record and lamenting his own side’s travel sickness. With Roberto Mancini sure to demand that his side deliver a fired-up response to their defeat by Everton in midweek, the pessimist in me wonders whether the Premier League’s first ever free-to-air fixture might be a massacre. Given some of Fulham’s defensive deficiencies lately, it’s not out of the question.

That’s disregarding Fulham’s fine record on the blue side of Manchester though. The Londoners are unbeaten on their last four visits to Eastlands, dating back to that Lazarus-like recovery that kickstarted the Great Escape. They have lost just once in their last six trips – and that was after extra time in a League Cup tie where Roy Hodgson played a shadow side. Even Jol has an impressive record against City. He hasn’t been beaten in seven league meetings – and the comeback at Craven Cottage this season was his first draw after six wins.

But Fulham will need more than merely faith in statistics to preserve that proud record this evening. They might have been the last team to avoid defeat at City last February, but Mancini’s attacking arsenal is truly frightening. Even without the suspended Mario Balotelli, the Italian can still call upon Eden Dzeko, David Silva, Samir Nasri and no Fulham fan will need reminding about the danger posed by Sergio Aguero. When you consider both Vincent Kompany and Micah Richards should return to strengthen the league leaders’ defence and that Fulham have the worst away attack in the league (having managed just seven goals in eleven games), it’s not difficult to envisage a disappointing evening.

In the absence of Steve Sidwell, who has suffered a recurrence of the groin injury that sidelined him for much of 2011, Dickson Etuhu should return to the centre of midfield. The Nigerian had been left out of Jol’s squad of late – as his demands for a regular spot and then a move away tried the Dutchman’s patience – but, with his short-term future resolved, Etuhu should add some bite and drive to Fulham’s midfield. In truth, he was rather unlucky to lose his place to Sidwell so soon after some fine performances, especially away from home against Sunderland and Arsenal. The 29 year-old, who started his career with City, always seem to play well when he comes up against them – memorably scoring the equaliser to spark Fulham’s second half comeback in April 2009.

The bigger decisions will come at opposite ends of the pitch. With Mark Schwarzer reportedly ready to return from a neck injury, does Jol drop David Stockdale? The England number three has done well since replacing the Australian veteran in mid-December – with a fine display at Stamford Bridge springing to mind – but he hasn’t been blameless. As I argued last night, the smart long-term choice would be to give Stockdale the shirt to continue his development but, with all the pressure on them these days, Premier League managers don’t tend to think beyond the next set of fixtures – and who can blame them.

With Andy Johnson still sidelined by a groin problem and Fulham still awaiting Pavel Pogrebnyak’s international clearance, Jol will probably persevere with Clint Dempsey as a lone striker even if Moussa Dembele is fit to play after a heel injury. The Belgian has looked most effective as a withdrawn forward and should be given an opportunity to fill Bobby Zamora’s boots, allowing Dempsey to make those late darting runs from midfield. There’s a reason in such a rich vein of form and that’s due to his nous in the penalty area. Fulham probably won’t spend much time in the City area tonight, so by using Dembele to occupy defenders, the American could exploit the space to great effect.

The only question mark surrounds who should be sacrificed to make way for the returning Dembele. Simon Davies started brightly against West Brom but faded in the second period, understandably given how few full ninety matches he has completed in the last 18 months. Damien Duff has scored on his last two visits to City and his defensive diligence and work ethic might be badly needed today.

MY FULHAM XI (4-2-3-1): Stockdale; Kelly, J.A. Riise, Hangeland, Senderos; Etuhu, Murphy; Duff, Ruiz, Dempsey; Dembele. Subs: Schwarzer, Hughes, Baird, Kasami, Frei, Davies, Trotta.

Fulham midfielder Pajtim Kasami has admitted that he was flattered to be the subject of interest from Italian giants Juventus but reiterated that he wants to stay in England and fight for a spot in Martin Jol’s first team.

Having only joined the Whites last summer from Palermo and has had a difficult start to life in England, making the majority of his appearances in the Europa League. The teenager was also fined by Jol for taking a penalty – that he missed – in the League Cup exit at Chelsea that had been allocated to Orlando Sa. The Swiss midfielder hasn’t featured for the first team since the Boxing Day draw at Stamford Bridge, but he wants to prove he is worth a place in the Fulham side.

I’m honoured to have received an offer from Juventus, a great club. But this is the middle of my first season with Fulham and I don’t want to leave at the moment. Of course, lately I haven’t been playing and I’m not happy about this, but I prefer to stay and try to establish myself.

Martin Jol hopes Andy Johnson is close to agreeing a new two-year contract with Fulham after the club offered him a new deal.

The Fulham manager revealed that, after rejecting approaches for the 30 year-old during the January transfer window, the club offered Johnson a revised extension to his contract, which expires in the summer. The former Crystal Palace and Everton striker is currently sidelined with a groin injury but has scored 11 goals in 29 appearances for Fulham so far this season.

There was an inquiry from one or two clubs so we had to make a decision on that. I said to Andy you will stay here whatever happens and that probably wasn’t ideal for him, but it was good for me because we can now get on with the job and hopefully he can play for us and score goals.

It is more to do with his situation. His contract is up at the end of the season and he is a bit insecure about his future. But I don’t think there is any problem with him so we will find a solution. And I think he wants to stay as well.

We have made him an offer a couple of times and in the latest stage we even offered him what he wanted and that was two and a half years. So we are close. The sticking point was a year difference.

Martin Jol’s team selection at Eastlands tonight will be very interesting indeed. Will Dickson Etuhu – badly missed in the past couple of weeks – be restored to the starting line-up? In the absence of Pavel Pogrebnyak or Andy Johnson, will Clint Dempsey continue to plough a lone farrow up front? But the one question that will tell us whether Jol’s a pragmatist or has a true desire to bring down the age of his first team is who the Fulham manager picks in goal.

David Stockdale’s done pretty well since being rushed back from his loan spell at Ipswich. He preserved parity at Stamford Bridge in the derby and made a few important saves against Arsenal and Newcastle. If you were going to be critical, he should have saved Mortem Gamst Pedersen’s free-kick at Blackburn and might have stopped Formica’s crucial third. Equally, perhaps Stockdale could have done better with either of the headers that knocked us out of the FA Cup at Everton. Young goalkeepers – and, 26, Stockdale is young for a keeper – make mistakes and Stockdale is Fulham’s future. He also needs first-team football to cement his position as Fabio Capello’s number three goalkeeper, as Jol himself conceded:

If Mark plays then I will have to sit down with David. He told me at the start of the season he needed to play and I think he was right.

Mark Schwarzer’s quality isn’t in doubt either. He’s had an outstanding career in England with Bradford, Middlesbrough – and latterly with Fulham. The Australian commands his box with authority, which is the area where Stockdale might improve, and has been a key part of the club’s success over the last few years. Yet, there are signs that his powers are waning. His decision to come for a cross at Wolves was a rash one and he let a speculative shot from Leon Best beat him a little easily up at Newcastle.

The reports suggest that Schwarzer’s ready to challenge for a starting spot against Manchester City today. He’s the safer option I suppose and, having just signed a two-year contract, looks like the number one. But there is always the danger that Stockdale might become tired of being passed over. Jol made it clear he would be looking to reinvigorate an ageing squad on his arrival but so far, with the exception of introducing Kerim Frei, has been largely conservative in his choices. Sticking with Stockdale would prove he means business.

Dickson Etuhu could return to the Fulham side against his former club Manchester City after Martin Jol revealed that the Nigerian midfielder had been dropped from the squad because he wanted to move during the closing days of the January transfer window.

The Nigerian international midfielder had been impressive since replacing the injured Steve Sidwell earlier in the season, but lost his place once the 29 year-old regained fitness. Etuhu had been linked with a transfer exit, with reports of a move to Turkey or even to Wolves on loan, but Jol insisted that there was no approach for his services. The former Sunderland midfielder is in contention to return to the starting line-up tonight after Sidwell suffered another hernia problem against West Brom on Wednesday.

He was in the squad then out. Last time he wanted to move. I want players who want to focus on Fulham but there was no approach so he is back in the squad.

His mentality is fine but he’s one of these players – and especially in the transfer window – who comes up to you and tells you he needs to play. And not once, but a lot of times – ‘I need to play, I need to play’. I said ‘okay, wait and see’ so for me it was no problem but there was no approach so we have to sit down again.

The club has announced today that Billy McKinlay and Ray Lewington are effectively swapping roles in the Fulham set up:

Steve Sidwell is set for another spell on the sidelines after aggravating his hernia injury against West Brom in midweek.

The former Reading and Chelsea midfielder had only recently returned from a hernia problem to retake his place in the Fulham midfield, but manager Martin Jol revealed that Sidwell could need another operation.

We had an injury to Steve Sidwell and he will be out for a long time for four, five or six weeks. We had an injury to Steve Sidwell and he will be out for a long time for four, five or six weeks. He had an operation and we have to wait but we fear he needs another operation.

On this evidence, life without Bobby Zamora could be very painful indeed. Clint Dempsey toiled manfully as a makeshift striker, even squeezing home his tenth league goal of the campaign, but Fulham were made to pay for their prolificacy as Roy Hodgson’s West Brom grabbed a point on his first return to Craven Cottage thanks to a late strike from substitute Somen Tchoyi.

Despite enjoying plenty of possession and territorial dominance, Fulham rarely threatened Ben Foster in the Baggies goal. Zamora’s departure had long been predicted – given his uneasy relationship with Martin Jol – but the England striker’s switch to QPR leaves his old club desperately light up front. His immediate replacement, Pavel Pogrebnyak, didn’t receive his work permit in time to feature last night while both Andy Johnson and Moussa Dembele remained sidelined through injury.

In their absence, Dempsey played as a lone striker and the paucity of Fulham’s striking resources was highlighted by the fact that 19 year-old Italian striker Marcello Trotta, fresh from a successful loan spell at Wycombe, was their only forward option on the bench. Simon Davies made his 300th Premier League appearance in midfield, but in a largely forgettable first half Fulham made little impression on the visitors’ goal.

Steve Sidwell, clearly given licence to wander forward, missed the target from long range on three occasions and the home side’s only fluid move of the first period – featuring clever interplay between Danny Murphy and Damien Duff – saw Dempsey correctly flagged for his offside before he shot past Foster. West Brom were threatening on the break and Peter Odemwingie spurned two glorious chances to give them the lead before creating an opening for Marc-Antoine Fortune, only for David Stockdale to make a smart save. It took a rare rush of blood from Foster to present Fulham with a clear sight of goal, but Bryan Ruiz’s header floated wide.

Hodgson’s side, who have amassed an impressive eighteen of their 26 points away from home, could have been in front early in the second half. First, Simon Cox – deployed largely on the right wing – had a curling effort held by Stockdale and then the England goalkeeper did splendidly to smother a low shot from Fortune.

Fulham were playing in fits and starts. Ruiz, who was largely anonymous for the first hour, suddenly surged away from two tacklers and into the box but shot straight at Foster as space opened up. From the other flank, the ever-eager Duff nearly capitalised on a mistake from former Fulham left back Nicky Shorey to open the scoring but steered his shot agonisingly across the face of goal from an acute angle.

Fulham did finally break the deadlock in the 69th minute and it owed much to the class of Ruiz. The Costa Rican found himself surrounded by Baggies defenders just inside the box but still managed to thread a ball through to Dempsey and the American fired clinically in the bottom corner from close range.

That looked as though it would be enough to clinch the win that would have lifted Jol’s side into the top half but Hodgson threw on Tchoyi and the Cameroonian international had pinched an equaliser within five minutes. A clever flick from James Morrison released the substitute who had the strength to shrug off Brede Hangeland and lash an outstanding finish into the far corner. Dempsey did have a chance to secure all three points in added time, but headed wastefully header when picked out by a Danny Murphy corner at the far post.

FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Stockdale; Kelly, J.A. Riise, Hangeland, Senderos; Murphy, Sidwell; Duff, Davies, Ruiz; Dempsey. Subs (not used): Etheridge, Baird, Hughes, Gecov, Frei, Trotta.

BOOKED: Murphy.

GOAL: Dempsey (69).

WEST BROMWICH ALBION (4-4-2): Foster; Tamas, Shorey, Olsson, McAuley; Mulumbu, Dorrans, Morrison (S. Reid 88), Cox (Tchoyi 77); Odemwingie, Fortune. Subs (not used): Fulop, Dawson, Allan, Mantom, Thorne.

GOAL: Tchoyi (82).

REFEREE: Mark Halsey (Welwyn Garden City)

ATTENDANCE: 25,689

Many of us went into January expecting Bobby Zamora and Andrew Johnson to leave; the former clearly didn’t have a good relationship with Martin Jol, whilst the latter was refusing to sign a contract of the length we were offering him.  Indeed, neither had featured in the Boxing Day draw at Chelsea, or the New Year’s Eve draw at Norwich.

I wasn’t alone in assuming that they’d played their last game at Craven Cottage, and that we’d say goodbye to two players who had become part of our old guard.  Indeed, Bobby Zamora had arguably become the backbone of our team, destroying defences that he had no right to destroy.  He effectively finished Fabio Cannavaro’s career in 20 minutes.  He had become an England player at the Cottage, and he was arguably performing the role at Fulham that Andy Carroll should have been performing at Liverpool.  This was all after a first season at the club, where he only scored 2 league goals.  Zamora however, was not just about goals, he was about bringing players into play, and creating opportunities for others around him to get an opportunity at goal.

Andy Johnson’s Fulham career has been much more indifferent career at Fulham.  He was bought to score goals, but has only scored 13 league goals in 80 games.  Whilst he has offered pace, he definitely hasn’t brought the goalscoring prowess that many had hoped when he became Fulham’s second most expensive signing either upon his arrival from Everton.

Before the transfer window, we were linked with a number of strikers: Carlton Cole, Andre-Pierre Gignac, Nicky Maynard and Guillaume Hoarau to name but a few.   Gignac had been top scorer in France in the 2008-09 season, whilst Hoarau had a scoring record of 1 goal in just less than 3 games for PSG.  Nicky Maynard’s Championship record was impressive, whilst Carlton Cole had Premier League experience.  The constant link with strikers made it look like Johnson and Zamora were off, and their replacements had already been sorted out.

Then, on the 3^rd of January, we played Arsenal, with Bobby Zamora scoring the winner in injury-time.  He went off at the end, hugging Martin Jol.  It looked like they’d put their differences aside, and that Zamora might stay at Craven Cottage, and carry on at the club where he’d had the best form of his career.  Indeed, he was playing very well, he set up all three of Clint Dempsey’s hat-trick goals against Newcastle, and he even looked vaguely happy, I wouldn’t go as far to say he was smiling, but that was a rarity.  Andrew Johnson too, was playing, and playing well – he made the difference against Newcastle.

The transfer window looked like passing quietly as the end of the window came ever nearer.  Indeed, we had only brought in players for the future in Jack Grimmer and Lisse Vigen Christensen.  We added to this on deadline day, signing youngster Ryan Williams.  Departure wise was the same, we had only left Alex Kacaniklic leave on loan to get some first time experience at Watford.  Marcello Trotta  came back from an impressive loan spell at Wycombe, but he had said that he was looking to test himself at Championship level.

As the transfer window began to close, it looked like we would end the transfer window with the players that we started it with, against all odds.  Then we began to be linked with strikers again: Lucas Barrios, Pavel Pogrebnyak, Peter Odemwingie and Hugo Rodallega.  Barrios would have been a fantastic signing for Fulham, the goalscorer we arguably need.  This link with a number of strikers gave the impression that we were preparing to get rid of Johnson or Zamora.  Indeed, the press agreed, linking Zamora to Sunderland and Johnson to Blackburn.

It looked like we were edging towards a deal with Barrios, with some sources claiming the deal was 90% complete.  But as quickly as I got excited, Barrios announced he was staying in Germany on his Twitter page.   The Odemwingie link was also shut down by his manager, the ex-Fulham manager, Roy Hodgson.  We apparently tried to exchange Hugo Rodallega for Andy Johnson, but both players reportedly want to let their contracts run out in the summer.

It became obvious that we were going to bring in Pavel Pogrebnyak, with the Russian striker declaring that he had had the most vigorous medical of his life, with the Fulham team examining every bone in his body.  It became more obvious, however, that Bobby Zamora was leaving the Cottage.  Sky Sports caught him turning up at the one club that we shouldn’t sell to, QPR, managed by arch-enemy number one, Mark Hughes.

If the £4 million fee is to be believed, it is unbelievable.  We should have been asking for at least double that.  We paid about £5 million for him from West Ham, and Bobby Zamora’s stock has undoubtedly risen whilst at Craven Cottage.  He’s gone from being seen by many as a joke, to being one of the best link-up men in the Premier League, in with a shout for the England 2012 squad.  There is no way he is worth less than what he was signed for.  Moreover, the relationship between Hughes and Al Fayed is so bad that surely Hughes should’ve had to pay over the top for any Fulham player, no matter how bad the relationship reportedly was between Zamora and Jol.  His departure arguably weakens us, and strengthens our biggest rivals.

Replacing Zamora will not be an easy task for Pogrebnyak.  He has a decent goalscoring record in Russia, but has only scored once this season in Germany.  If he can replicate his form from Russia at Craven Cottage, he will be a success, but recent history tells us Russians don’t have the greatest of times in the Premier League – see Diniyar Biliyaletdinov, Yuri Zhirkov, Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko.   We have to give him a chance though.

Tonight sees the return of Roy Hodgson to Craven Cottage for the first time as an opposition manager since leaving Fulham in 2010. It is my sincere belief that we should stand up and applaud Woy rather than castigate him as a villain despite the manner of his exit to Liverpool a year and a half ago.

Hodgson’s conduct as he departed our friendly confines was indeed somewhat unsavoury. Roy spent that summer appearing on the BBC’s World Cup coverage denying any interest in a purported move to Merseyside, notwithstanding widespread media speculation.

Following the conclusion of his tour to South Africa, the dice began to roll, and pieces began to fall into place. Chairman Mo rejected Liverpool’s overtures for our manager, leading Roy to eventually quit his job to force through a move. Something that, at the time, angered, frustrated and saddened the group of fans who had just witnessed the most successful season in the club’s long history. He’d bitten the hand that fed him.

In hindsight though, and with perhaps a pinch of perspective, can you really blame him for wanting to try his hand at Liverpool. In revenue terms, Liverpool remains to this day the 4th biggest club on the planet behind Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

There’s not many clubs that could attract over half a million people to midweek victory celebrations, as Liverpool did for the Champions League parade in 2004. Our Russian funded neighbours from up the road certainly could not. Let’s face it, its not like he left us because we lacked ambition only to wind up taking a lesser job in Shepherds Bush.

Roy gave us a parting gift. He bought Paul Konchesky from us for the princely sum of £3m plus two highly touted prospects in Lauri Dalle Valle and Alex Kakaniklic, the latter of whom has just joined Watford for the remainder of the season on loan. We seem to have the best of that deal with two prospects at the beginning of their careers with Konch now plying his trade a division down.

A further dodged bullet perhaps, as Roy brought Christian Poulsen to Anfield – a player who had rejected a move to Fulham from Juventus the previous summer, and was hounded out of Merseyside nearly as fast as his manager.

However, let us not look back at Roy’s time elsewhere but at what he did for our wonderful club. We were languishing near to foot of the Premiership when Roy was plucked from the relative obscurity of the Finland national team, and parachuted in to replace the ineffective spendthrift, Lawrie Sanchez. Roy led a top to bottom transformation of Fulham from losers to winners (as long as we weren’t playing away). Heck, for that special period of the Great Escape, we could even win away.

Amongst his astute signings over his two and a half seasons were Brede Hangeland, Erik Nevland, Bobby Zamora, John Pantsil, Mark Schwarzer, David Stockdale, Dickson Etuhu and Damian Duff. For now we’ll try and forget about the Giles Barnes, Jari Litmanen and Olivier Dacourt eras!

What’s more, Roy gave us a manager of whom we could rightly be proud. He was one of us. Quite frankly he still is. Roy is more likely to read a Nobel Laureate than his name in the tabloids or to walk his dog along a country lane than name a Monaco bank account after it. Roy epitomised the good about our club. He was articulate, knowledgeable and nice enough to be your own grandfather. It is not often you get a manager who is on UEFA’s technical committee, after all.

On the pitch, Roy led us to unparalleled success. We were disciplined, organised and creative. When he installed Hughes and Hangeland together we had the most improved defence in the league. His impromptu strike force of Gera, another tremendous signing, and Zamora took Europe by storm, between them sinking Basel, Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, Wolfsburg and Hamburg in the most astonishing six months I’ve ever witnessed in football.

LMA Manager of the Year, a 7th place finish in the Premier League and a European final. God bless that man. We all loved Cookie as he was Fulham through and through, Sanchez was a braggart and a fool who found himself in the right place at the right time when he kept us up, Hughes despite getting our Whites playing some good football always seemed too arrogant to feel like one of us; but Roy, he was part of our Fulham Family.

After the appalling treatment he got at Liverpool, Roy has found a home at West Brom, a club not too dissimilar from us in size and stature. He’s done well and I for one still count him as my personal choice to succeed Fabio Capello as England boss in the summer.

Hindsight can be a blessing and a curse. Whether or not Roy wishes he left, or not, I for one will be standing and clapping when Woy leads his West Brom team out onto the Cottage pitch tomorrow night and I hope you’ll join me in welcoming home a gentleman and a member of the Fulham Family. Hopefully he’ll even give us the three points to say sorry.

COYW