Fulham head for Teesside tonight with their eyes firmly fixed on consolidating their stranglehold on top spot in the Championship. While everyone else has declared Marco Silva’s side as champions-elect, the man himself has refused to concede that anything is signed and sealed. The Portuguese head coach, who has enjoyed an almost perfect first season in the Craven Cottage hotseat, sticks to the simple mantra of tackling the next game rather than worrying about the permutations which have seen a concerningly high percentage of Fulham fans transform into the new Carol Voderman since Saturday’s triumph at QPR.
Playing the opposition in front them will probably be easier than calculating where and when the Whites might clinch an immediate return to the top flight. But not by much. Chris Wilder has transformed a Middlesbrough outfit that were listing a little under the stewardship of Neil Warnock, taking forty points from 21 games and lifting them into the top six. Boro have a real chance of promotion under the astute Wilder, who has a happy knack of working miracles at the level, and sit two points behind his former club Sheffield United – who are fifth – with two games in hand.
Confidence levels around the Riverside have also soared on account of Middlesbrough’s FA Cup run that saw sweep aside Spurs and Manchester United en route to the last eight. Wilder’s side thumped Peterborough 4-0 last weekend, with four different goalscorers underlining the variety of goal threats at his disposal. Fulham will have to breach what is becoming a real fortress with Boro unbeaten at home since November, having won their last eight consecutive home Championship games. He has largely stuck with the 3-5-2 system that worked so superbly with Sheffield United, utilising the width provided by Isaiah Jones – scorer of Boro’s equaliser at Craven Cottage in the opening game of the campaign – who has enjoyed a sensational season as a marauding wing-back.
Wilder’s three centre halves are likely to be the homegrown Dael Fry, Northern Ireland international Paddy McNair, who was outstanding at Posh, and Dutch defender Anfernee Dijksteel, lately converted from right back. Boro’s midfield is packed with real quality, including the precise passing of Jonny Howson and the reliability of Matt Crooks, who oozed class at London Road last weekend. Folarin Balogun, on loan from Arsenal, has scored six goals in his last six outings for club and country, whilst Aaron Connolly has added serious goal threat since arriving from Brighton.
Silva could be reasonably satisfied with the showing in Shepherd’s Bush on Saturday, with the Whites’ comfortable derby win resembling the perfect away performance. Fulham were in command from the off, with the majesty of Tom Cairney’s poise and passing on full display, and – after benefiting from a generous penalty award – were able to register their fourteenth clean sheet of the season. The question is whether Silva sticks with a winning formula or rotates with other matches in mind. Fulham face five further fixtures before April comes to an end, although the hope is that the suspense soon drains out of the season.
The biggest selection puzzler will be at left back. Antonee Robinson was rested for the QPR assignment after his international exploits and I felt Joe Bryan did fine in the American’s absence. Bryan seems defensively more sound than Robinson and can whip in a mean ball for Aleksandar Mitrovic, but Silva has certainly made the former Wigan defender his first choice. Neeskens Kebano can probably expect to return to the starting line-up against the team with whom he finished last season after being deemed surplus requirements by Parker. Bobby Decordova-Reid hasn’t been pulling up any trees of late and if the Congolese livewire is now over those hamstring issues he should start.
MY FULHAM XI (4-2-3-1): Rodak; Williams, Bryan, Adarabioyo, Ream; Reed, Cairney; Wilson, Kebano, Carvalho; Mitrovic. Subs: Gazzaniga, Tete, Hector, Chalobah, Seri, Decordova-Reid, Muniz.
