To say that Fulham have a poor league record against Everton at Goodison Park would be an understatement. We have had 26 league games away to Everton across the Premier League and the old Division One and Division Two and have managed no wins, four draws and an embarrassing 22 defeats. In that time we have also conceded a massive 62 goals and have only scored 17 ourselves. I’d imagine that we couldn’t possibly have a worse record against any other club on the road! We have beaten Everton at Goodison Park twice in the FA Cup but the last time that happened was on route to Wembley when we made the final back in 1975. There have been so many games without a win between then and now, so it doesn’t exactly bode well, does it?
But let’s not worry too much about the history side of things. Slavisa Jokanovic will probably be made aware of the dreadful run we are on at Goodison, but he will be ensuring that his players look forward and not behind. This past year we have ripped up the history books so hopefully we can do it again on Saturday.
It’s hard to know what to expect from Fulham at the minute. We play some brilliant stuff at times, but we also have moments of complete brain freeze, moments that have seen us concede in the opening two minutes of our last two league games, or going from 2-nil up to drawing 2-2 against Brighton. Last weekend against Watford it was like two entirely different teams turned up in each half, and if we continue like this we won’t last in this league. However, I don’t think we will keep that sort of form up. I fully believe that we are still adjusting to life in the Premier League and that a good run of form is just around the corner. We have players in our side who can change any game, we just need to sort the defence out and then I reckon we will be able to cause some upsets around the league.
A game away to Everton is never going to be easy, but it’s a good time to face them given their own defensive difficulties this season so far. Like Fulham, they are yet to keep a clean sheet in the league and have also chopped and changed their defence for every game. We know only too well what that is like, and I’d imagine that Mitrovic, Vietto and Schurrle are licking their lips at the prospect of facing a leaky defence. There doesn’t seem to be much between us in a lot of the stats; they have conceded 11 goals to our 13 and both have scored 8 goals. However, Fulham are 500 odd passes better off, so hopefully we can use that to good affect on Saturday.
Everton have a fair few danger men in their side too, with Richarlison the obvious one. There were a lot of eye brows raised across the footballing world when we left Watford for Everton in a deal worth £50million, but he already has three goals in four games this term. There is also the issue of Gylfi Sigurdsson. While the Icelandic midfielder’s move to Spurs back in 2012 might not have been massively successful, I still remember being at the game against Swansea just before that move and Sigurdsson was fantastic. He scored two that day and completely ripped us apart. At £50 a ticket to sit in the Johnny Haynes stand to watch a 3-0 defeat to Swansea, it was a head in hands moment for my Dad.
Both sides have been poor defensively but with a fair amount of joy going forward, so I think we can expect a really exciting game tomorrow. Fulham have to cut out the mistakes, especially at the start of both halves. Alfie Mawson is out, and I can’t see Tim Ream being thrown in to a Premier League game but it will be interesting to see whether or not MLM is recalled to the side. I’d expect Denis Odoi to be recalled after his game changing performance in the second half last week, while no one but Jokanovic will know whether Joe Bryan or Ryan Sessegnon will get the nod at LB. I can’t see Slav going for a 3-5-2 in the PL so expect us to revert to a 4-4-3, but with the RB and LB being given freedom to roam.
Can we put our Goodison curse to bed? Can our defence hold out for more than 90seconds? Who will play in defence for Fulham? So. Many. Questions. But one thing we can be sure of is yet more drama. I’m going to be bold with my prediction and say that the curse will end with a dramatic 3-2 win with Mitrovic bagging a brace and Ryan Sessegnon getting his first PL goal. Magic.
#COYW
