A revitalised Fulham will be eager to extend an impressive home record when they welcome Aston Villa to Craven Cottage this afternoon. Marco Silva’s side, buoyed by a timely victory over AFC Bournemouth last weekend, will go in search of a seventh league win in their last ten home league outings against Villa, whose push for the Champions’ League places has been undermined by a recent dip in form.
Silva told his pre-match press conference yesterday that the mood at Motspur Park has been brilliant saw his side returned to winning ways with a rather ruthless dismantling of the Cherries in SW6 last Saturday. The potency of Rodrigo Muniz up front has forced the Fulham head coach to have a conversation with deadline day arrival Armando Broja – during which he urged the Albanian international to remain patient as he waits for a starting opportunity having arrived from Stamford Bridge on loan at the end of last month. Muniz has seized his chance to impress after Raul Jimenez injured his hamstring against Everton in late January and his match-winning brace against Bournemouth means Broja is likely to have a watching brief from the bench again later today.
The Whites will be boosted by the fact that the Mexican forward will be their only absentee as they prepare to try and inflict more pain on one of the surprise packages of the Premier League season. Emery’s Villa appeared unstoppable at home until they were beaten by Newcastle United and Chelsea in recent matches and were unfortunate to be edged out by Manchester United in a narrow 2-1 defeat last Sunday, but both Silva and Muniz are fully aware of the size of the task facing them this afternoon. Villa were comfortable winners in the reverse fixture earlier this season and possess plenty of quality to make light of the fact that they will be missing England international Tyrone Mings, defensive duo Ezri Konsa and Diego Carlos as well as defensive midfielder Boubacar Kamara, attacking midfielder Emi Buendia and young striker Jhon Dhuran.
Emery will be grateful that the influential centre back Pau Torres, who returned to the squad for Sunday’s painful defeat by United, should be able to solve a central defensive crisis this afternoon. The former Arsenal boss, who must be in with a serious shot of winning the top flight manager of the season award for his remarkable work in reviving Villa’s fortunes, will be hoping for a repeat of their outstanding display at Sheffield United, which saw them put five past Chris Wilder’s side in the blink of an eye at Bramall Lane and Villa have proven particularly miserly on their travels – as Middlesbrough, Everton and Chelsea have found out since the turn of the year.
Silva has a succession of selection dilemmas to ponder over as he weighs up whether to change a winning formula from a curious display against Bournemouth last weekend. Fulham went from looking as if they could score at will in an energetic first half performance to sitting deeper after Muniz had restored their two-goal advantage in the second half and such caution will surely be punished by a Villa side who possess serious offensive weapons if they repeat it this weekend. Calvin Bassey should return to the heart of the defence after his dominant displays for Nigeria during the African Cup of Nations, although it remains to be seen whether Alex Iwobi – previously impressive both as a number ten or on the wing – slots straight back in having received cowardly social media abuse in the wake of the Super Eagles’ final defeat by Ivory Coast last Sunday.
Tom Cairney should continue to dictate play from the deep-lying central midfield role he has made his own since starring on an outstanding return to Silva’s starting line-up in December and the Whites will have a wealth of options to call upon as their injury worries appear to have abated over the past few days. Tosin Adarabioyo has returned to training following a groin strain with Issa Diop ready to continue at the heart of the back four, whilst Kenny Tete has fully recovered from the achilles problem he picked up after the devastating draw at Burnley. Former Villa winger Adama Traore could continue his own comeback from the substitutes bench as well.
The Whites will be confident of continuing a three-match unbeaten run at the Cottage, having won six of their last seven home meetings with Villa. But Emery’s side have already shown that they are far from a pushover and have a good recent record in SW6, having won four of the last five Premier League fixtures between the two sides. The anomaly came in what proved to be Steven Gerrard’s last game in charge when Fulham overwhelmed a poor Villa outfit last October, but the transformation since Emery stepped into the Villa Park hotseat has been incredible. There will be no such stroll in the park for Fulham tomorrow; Silva’s side will need to earn all three points with a powerful performance.
MY FULHAM XI (4-2-3-1): Leno; Castagne, A. Robinson, Bassey, Diop; Palhinha, Cairney; De Cordova-Reid, Willian, Pereira; Muniz. Subs: Rodak, Ream, Adarabioyo, Ballo-Toure, Reed, Lukic, Iwobi, Traore, Broja.
