BY JAMIE WOLLEEN

Looking forward to Aston Villa, Fulham need to leave behind sub-par performances against West Ham and Bournemouth. The latter a well fought 2-2 draw against the Cherries at Craven Cottage, with Aleksandar Mitrovic and Issa Diop both on the scoresheet. A makeshift back 4 made another appearance, with Bobby Decordova-Reid filling in at right back once again, who looked solid but it’s quite clear it’s not his position, the return of Kenny Tete will be duly welcomed. Issa Diop gained his 2nd league start for the Whites and looked assured once again, as well as grabbing his first goal. Whilst it probably feels like a case of 2 points dropped due to the second half domination where we saw 73% of possession, positives can still be taken. The inclusion of Tom Cairney and Willian off the bench in the second half shows the improvement we’ve made in squad depth, and both would probably feel unlucky not to start on Thursday evening after their performances on Saturday.

Fulham find themselves 11th after 10 games, if you’d of offered me that before our opener against Liverpool, I’d of probably snapped your arm off. However, we’ve only gained 1 point from a possible 9 after the international break, which did halt an impressive start to the campaign. Despite the position we find ourselves in, you can’t help but look over your shoulder and see that a lot of teams tipped for relegation, as we are, picking up points here and there, making themselves tough to beat. As well as that, the landscape at the bottom of the table is made up of teams you’d expect to pick up at some point, Aston Villa and Leicester are some of those where you’d expect for quality to eventually show through and keep them in the division. 11th after 10 games is a good start, especially if you look at who we’ve faced since the turn of the season, but we are by no means in the clear and the form since the break needs to be turned around and I don’t see many better games to do it than a home fixture against a struggling Aston Villa.

Steven Gerrard’s men arrive at Craven Cottage out of sorts, winless in 3, sitting in 16th. They need a bounce back on Thursday evening, no one more than Steven Gerrard, who you’d assume needs 3 points to keep his job. There were murmurs that he’d been shown the door in the last 24 hours or so, but it looks as if he’ll be the man in the Aston Villa dugout for the coming game.

For Fulham, the stakes are the same. Not sure it’s as serious as a ‘bounce back’, but more a return to previous form. Aleksandar Mitrovic got a good 90 minutes in the bank vs Bournemouth, and should hopefully be back fully firing again after his short lay off due to injury. Whilst many are calling for Tom Cairney to start, I do think Harrison Reed should be called on once again in this instance. Villa have that 3 in midfield, with Douglas Luiz the pivot. Jacob Ramsey and John McGinn, especially Ramsey, tend to bomb on from midfield into the attacking third. As well as this, the player who’s deployed off of the left tending to be one of Ollie Watkins or Philippe Coutinho often drift more centrally in build up. Therefore, a slightly more defensive approach in the first instance may be more fruitful so that Fulham aren’t overrun at the back. TC still remains a brilliant option off the bench, as he can come on later on when the game has become more stretched and dictate as he does.

Then the centre back dilemma. For once in the last 10 years it seems, a Fulham manager actually finds himself in the position of having to decide who will line up at centre back. Issa Diop has impressed in his league starts, and looks a different player to his debut at Crawley. The 15 million pound man could end up being the successor to Tim Ream, who has upped it this season and despite a lot of attacks coming down his side last Saturday, he once again looked solid and to be honest I think he needs a bit more credit from many, he denied a certain goal in the first half and dealt with the Bournemouth front line well. Tosin Adarabioyo found himself on the bench Saturday, however he probably should start Thursday, he didn’t feature at all Saturday and presumably will be fresh for the upcoming game.

Fulham have to get something out of the game Thursday, despite the start those standards have to be kept, and this Villa side, as it stands, are vulnerable and definitely beatable. If you look at our coming fixtures, 3 points here would be the perfect momentum builder before tough fixtures away at Leeds and Everton, who have proved so defensively sound this year. As we then kick towards fixtures versus both Manchester clubs before the break for the World Cup. That turnaround has to start next time out though against Aston Villa at Craven Cottage.