Marco Silva’s Christmas celebrations might have been ruined by a dismal home defeat at the hands of Burnley on Saturday, but the beauty of the festive fixture programme means that an opportunity to set things right is right around the corner. The fact that it arrives against one of the country’s in form sides should only serve to maximise Fulham’s motivation. Plenty of quizzical glances were exchanged when Bournemouth dispensed with the services of Gary O’Neill in favour of Andoni Iraola, but after the Spaniard’s acclimatisation period, it appears a shrewd decision. The Cherries have collected sixteen points from a possible eighteen, losing just once in the league since the start of November, and are most certainly upwardly mobile.
Iraola’s side may have been on the right side of a stroke of fortune at Nottingham Forest at the weekend – with a questionable red card for Wily Boly weakening the home side early on and a 94th minute winner – but they have also demonstrated an ability to dismantle even the most well-assembled defences (as well as Manchester United) both at Dean Court and further afield. Their recent record at home (seven points from their last three outings) shows that they have overcome a sticky start to the season on their own patch and they possess a goalscorer in red hot form. Dominic Solanke has 11 goals in 17 top-flight fixtures this term – one greater than his total after 96 appearances at this level previously – and he also enjoys scoring against Fulham, finding the net in each of his last four tussles with the Whites.
Iraola will serve a touchline ban this afternoon having been booked for the third time this season at the City Ground – but he will be content to watch a side in their groove, especially having failed to taste victory in his first nine Premier League games in charge. The former Rayo Vallecano boss may have to do without Lewis Cook and Adam Smith, who will face late fitness tests after they sustained injuries during that five-goal thriller at Nottingham Forest. Milos Kerkez and Hamed Traore could be in contention to return after missing the weekend drama, but a decision on their participation won’t be taken until the last possible movement. Bournemouth are nothing if not adaptable nowadays – and Fulham’s assignment is a tricky one.
Silva – and skipper Tom Cairney – have already demanded a reaction following the meek capitulation to Burnley after the Whites had dominated the first 45 minutes. Tim Ream and Adama Traore will definitely not make the Boxing Day trip, whilst Raul Jimenez serves the final game of his suspension following his aborted kung fu kick at St. James’ Park. Fulham badly missed the energy and invention of Willian against the Clarets and they will make a late decision on whether the Brazilian winger will be able to face the Cherries. Other changes can’t be discounted given the barren nature of the desolate display that saw Vincent Kompany’s side secure a third win of the season with a classical away performance at the Cottage.
Fulham’s next two fixtures are amongst the most testing in the whole calendar and, if they are to harbour genuine ambitions of maintaining their mid-table position deeper into the season, they will need to improve on a threadbare away record that has delivered only a single league win away from SW6 all season – and even that slender success at Everton owed plenty to good fortune. Silva will hope that he can extend Fulham’s fine recent record on Boxing Day – the Cottagers are unbeaten since a 2-0 defeat at Derby eight years ago, whilst he himself has won three out of three Premier League fixtures on that date. It will certainly require much more than superstition to bring home three points, however.
MY FULHAM XI (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete, A. Robinson, Diop, Bassey; Reed, Palhinha; Wilson, Willian, Iwobi; Vinicius. Subs: Rodak, Castagne, Ballo-Toure, Adarabioyo, Cairney, De Cordova-Reid, Pereira, Harris, Muniz.
