Saturday’s win over Blackburn Rovers and the subsequent slip-ups by our promotion rivals generated a real sense of momentum behind Fulham’s promotion push – and the possibility of securing the Championship title. The pundits have virtually christened Marco Silva’s side as a Premier League team in waiting, but the head coach is fully aware of the unpredictability of this division and insisted again after the final whistle on Saturday that nothing had been done yet. The trip to Wales tomorrow night will offer an intriguing test of Fulham’s form – with Swansea on a good run of their own, perhaps inspired by the impact of loan signing Cyrus Christie.
Whilst the Irish international has been ever present since he moved to south Wales at the end of January and has scored two crucial goals in recent wins, there are also signs that Russell Martin’s methods are beginning to have the desired effect. The former MK Dons manager is a hard taskmaster: he demanded an improvement on the second half showing against Coventry, despite Michael Obafemi’s brace providing a commanding first-half lead and was angered by the fact that Mark Robins’ men were able to score a late consolation.
Martin will face something of a selection dilemma given various absentees tomorrow. Christie is ineligible to face his parent club – which could be a blessing given his sensational form of late – whilst Korey Smith and Andy Fisher will have fitness tests today after picking up injuries that make their participation doubtful. Hannes Wolf is ruled out with Covid and that will mean Martin will have to mix and match from what remains one of the smallest squads in the division. Fulham will need no reminding of the class of Matt Grimes in midfield – given their summer-long pursuit of the Swansea skipper as a potential addition – and he produced a peach of a pass as Obafemi put Coventry to the sword at the weekend.
However much they might insist otherwise, Fulham’s biggest enemy at this point seems to be complacency. They were far from their best against Blackburn on Saturday lunchtime but were clinical enough to take two chances in the first half – and that proved the difference. It was encouraging for Silva that neither of the goals were scored by the red-hot Aleksandar Mitrovic, with both Neeskens Kebano and Harry Wilson proving how deadly they have become in the final third. Mitrovic gets most of the plaudits for leading Fulham’s deadly forward line, but the approach play and predatory instincts of both wingers, who are equally adept at roaming inside when the mood takes them, is a big reason why the league leaders have overwhelmed opposition defences with such regularity this season.
I do wonder whether Silva might be tempted to carry out something of a reshuffle in terms of team selection with this game followed by another Saturday lunchtime appointment at Barnsley. Jean Michael Seri and Harrison Reed had arguably their best game as a pair at the heart of the Fulham midfield, with the latter utterly relentless in his running. The Whites have a surfeit of options in the engine room – and it remains to be seen whether an element of rotation might bring Nathaniel Chalobah’s more robust characters back into contention.
Swansea are confident of being able to give anyone on a game on their own turf – and why not after collecting twelve points from the last six fixtures. They have impressively seen off promotion contenders in the shape of West Brom and Coventry City in recent weeks: brushing both aside in contrasting manners. It was a rather late show at the Hawthorns, with patience followed by ruthlessness in front of goal to finish off the perfect away performance before having no qualms about making all the running against Coventry. Obafemi now has four goals in his last six outings, demonstrating just why he was so highly-rated when he burst onto the scene at Southampton. Fulham will need to match Swansea’s intensity from the first whistle in order to maintain their excellent away record in what will a tricky encounter.
MY FULHAM XI (4-2-3-1): Rodak; Williams, Bryan, Adarabioyo, Ream; Reed, Seri; Wilson, Kebano, Carvalho, Mitrovic. Subs: Gazzaniga, Tete, Hector, Chalobah, Cairney, Decordova-Reid, Cavaleiro, Muniz.
