Bournemouth’s goalless draw at Sheffield United yesterday afternoon means that Fulham are now within touching distance of securing an immediate return to the Premier League. Nottingham Forest did manage to beat Birmingham to ensure that Marco Silva’s side couldn’t clinch promotion this afternoon against Coventry City, but with just six points needed it suddenly feels like just a matter of time. Silva has been relentlessness in drilling his side to prepare for the next match and ignore the table and the Portuguese head coach’s singlemindedness might be about to pay dividends.

The immediate objective will be avenge Fulham’s catastrophic defeat at Coventry in October. In the aftermath of a shambolic second half at the Coventry Building Society Stadium, where a shell-shocked Whites surrendered a half-time lead to lose 4-1 in the rain, there were questions about both Silva’s suitability for the Craven Cottage hotseat and whether Fulham would have the stomach to stay in the promotion race. Both questions have been made to look silly – just like the early-season assertion in some quarters that Silva was ‘a fraud’ – but the Sky Blues, backed by a massive travelling support, will still represent a serious test on their first visit to the Cottage since 1982.

Mark Robins – for my money one of the English game’s most underrated managers – won’t be able to call upon Matty Godden, who won the crucial spot-kick in the reverse fixture with a disgraceful dive in the reserve, after the striker was ruled out of the rest of the season with a calf strain. Coventry still have plenty of firepower in their forward line. Swedish scoring sensation Viktor Gyökeres has found the net fifteen times this term, adding five assists, in a superb season after signing permanently in the Midlands after a successful loan spell. The veteran Martyn Waghorn is always a goal threat, whilst further creativity and guile come from the former Aston Villa attacking midfielder Callum O’Hare and gifted schemer Gustavo Hamer.

Robins hasn’t wavered in his adoption of a 3-5-2 formation that exploits City’s strength out wide. Ian Maatsen, another scorer in Fulham’s thrashing earlier in the campaign, has enjoyed a brilliant loan spell from Chelsea at left wing back whilst the former QPR defender Todd Kane provides a balance of defensive solidity and adventure on the opposite flank. City haven’t quite hit the heights that their electric start to the season promised, but they have comfortably secured their place in the second tier and much of the credit for that should be sent in the direction of composed centre back Dominic Hyam.

Fulham’s task will be to match the intensity of their start in the win at Queens Park Rangers in the west London derby with the solidity demonstrated at the Riverside Stadium on Wednesday night. The hosts will hand Tom Cairney a late fitness to see if the skipper has recovered from the muscle injury that prevented him from featuring at Middlesbrough, but Silva has an otherwise fully fit squad to pick from. There has been some suggestion online that he should omit Fabio Carvalho to test out the Portuguese under-21 international’s possible replacements, but with a title to secure that would be close to managerial malpractice. Neeskens Kebano replacing Bobby Decordova-Reid along the left flank should be only change to Fulham’s front four.

It will be tempting for Silva to stick with the same defence that ground out Fulham’s seventeenth clean sheet of the season on Teesside midweek. That would mean keeping faith with Joe Bryan, who has been solid in stepping up to replace Antonee Robinson, on the left and playing Kenny Tete on the opposite flank – which is unlikely as the brilliant Neco Williams will be available selection here having attended his grandmother’s funeral on Wednesday. Tim Ream, outstanding in repelling Boro all night long earlier this week despite a nasty nose injury and plenty of claret should make his 250th Fulham appearance at the heart of the back four.

MY FULHAM XI (4-2-3-1): Rodak; Williams, Bryan, Adarabioyo, Ream; Chalobah, Reed; Wilson, Kebano, Carvalho; Mitrovic. Subs: Gazzaniga, A. Robinson, Hector, Seri, Decordova-Reid, Cavaleiro, Muniz.