Fulham’s latest signing Sylvain Legwinski, should make his debut against Derby County at Craven Cottage this afternoon.
The French midfielder, a £3.3m signing from Bordeaux, was part of the Monaco side that reached the Champions’ League semi-finals under Jean Tigana and will ease the Whites’ injury worries in central midfield after securing international clearance. Legwinski could start against the Rams with former Sunderland midfielder Lee Clark unable to shake off the Achilles tendon issue that robbed him of the chance of featuring in the first two games of the season.
Fulham will also be without the services of lively forward Luis Boa Morte, who completes the final game of his three-match suspension which was carried over from the end of last season.
Mart Poom is expected to start in goal for Derby despite suffering bruised ribs in the midweek defeat at Ipswich. X-rays provided an encouraging result for the Estonian keeper who at first feared broken bones, but Rams boss Jim Smith will add a third goalkeeper, Lee Grant, to his travelling squad along with Poom’s regular deputy Andy Oakes.
Simo Valakari and French defender Yaul Mawene have both recovered from injuries and make the squad, but Horacio Carbonari, Branko Strupar and Stefano Eranio are all still out. Smith is set to stick with midfielder Brian O’Neil despite his sending-off at Portman Road, as his mandatory suspension does not start until next month.
MY FULHAM XI (4-4-2): van der Sar; Finnan, Brevett, Melville, Goma; Davis, Legwinski, Malbranque, Goldbaek; Saha, Hayles. Subs: Taylor, Ouaddoh, Harley, Collins, Betsy.