Have we all recovered from Harry Wilson’s fabulous five minutes on Monday night? The scarcely believable turnaround against Brentford should send Marco Silva’s men into this afternoon’s trip to Crystal Palace full of confidence as Fulham look to make it two London derby wins in the space of five days ahead of the upcoming international break.
The Whites managed to end their three-match winless run in the dying embers of a match they had utterly dominated on Monday – with Wilson’s wonderful brace a fitting reward for Fulham’s persistence and spirit. That victory saw Silva’s side surge back into the top half of the Premier League table, only three points off the top four. It is a popular view at Motspur Park that the Cottagers should have collected more points from the first ten fixtures of the campaign, which has seen them bravely brush aside the summer departure of Joao Palhinha and look even more dangerous going forward.
It is away from Craven Cottage that Fulham have failed to collect the rewards their sense of adventure deserved. The opening night saw them surrender all three points to Manchester United in the last three minutes and their last away game saw Silva seethe as the Whites threw away another lead to Beto and Everton at the head coach’s old stomping ground in stoppage time. The Cottagers were arguably second best in the draw at newly-promoted Ipswich Town and needed to rely on a rearguard action to register their only league away success this term at the City Ground, so there’s certainly room for improvement.
They have a good recent record at Selhurst Park, having taken five points from their last three visits to Selhurst Park keeping three clean sheets for good measure as well. This afternoon will see Joachim Andersen make his first return to Whitehouse Lane since his summer £30m move and, although the Danish defender has spoken fondly of his memories of three years with the Eagles, he could receive a hot reception.
Palace have at least picked up some form in recent outings after a chastening start to this season. Oliver Glasner looked like the perfect fit to take the Eagles to the next level after Roy Hodgson’s second stint in charge of his boyhood club came to an end last term, but a turbulent close season was followed by a grand total of three draws from the first eight matches, sparking fears of the relegation battles that the former Fulham legend had kept the Eagles out of. But Palace are now unbeaten in four games in all competitions and fully deserved to edge out Spurs a fortnight ago for their first Premier League win of the season.
Glasner’s charges followed that up with a battling point at Wolverhampton Wanderers and knocked Aston Villa out of the League Cup to lift the gloom in south east London. The hosts will target back-to-back London derby victories for the first time in six years, but they will have end Fulham’s five-match unbeaten run in this fixture as well as battle through a lengthy injury list. Summer signing Eddie Nketiah has joined Ebere Eze and Adam Wharton have joined Jefferson Lerma, Chadi Riad and Matheus Franca on the treatment table, with influential midfielder Will Hughes suspended after being booked for the fifth time this term at Molineux. Glasner’s side will still pack a punch, as Andersen admitted earlier this week when talking up the threat posed by a rejuvenated Jean-Paul Mateta, even without some of their most creative midfielders.
Silva continues to adapt to the absence of Sasa Lukic due to the shoulder injury the Serbian midfielder suffered during the last international break and the Fulham boss has a headache to solve after Wilson’s match-winning heroics on Monday. The Welsh international probably deserves a spot in the side after replicating his red-hot national team goalscoring form just ten minutes after stepping off the bench to beat Brentford, but including the former Liverpool winger would require something of an engine room. Andreas Pereira would be most the vulnerable – and it is certainly true that the Whites were much more dangerous after Adama Traore replaced the below-par Brazilian, although the forward thrust of Tom Cairney proved crucial after he came on for Emile Smith Rowe. It will be intriguing to see what sort of line-up the famously risk-averse Portuguese goes for.
MY FULHAM XI (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete, A. Robinson, Andersen, Bassey; Berge, Iwobi; Traore, Smith Rowe, Wilson; Jimenez. Subs: Benda, Castagne, R. Sessegnon, Diop, Reed, Cairney, Pereira, Nelson, Muniz.
I just hope Marco has learnt a lot from this brilliant performance and will act accordingly. Surely, he must put Pereira on the bench at least. The guy has to improve every aspect of his game. There are others who can do it better. I don’t think I would start Traore, I really feel one gets the best from him as an impact sub. A tired defence does not want to see him come on with 20 minutes to go.