Our Focus turns back to the Cottage as Fulham host fellow promotion chasers Preston North End this weekend. Alex Neals side currently sit in the final playoff spot and have somewhat gone under the radar with all the talk being aimed at Fulham, Forest and Brentford being on the tails of the top two.
Yet, here we are with eleven games to go and they find themselves level on points with the Bees with breathing space behind them. So this will not be easy by any means and a completely different test to the one Swansea gave us on Wednesday. Swansea was very much a like-for-like styles wise, whereas Preston are your typical robust Championship team and after WBA comfortably sailed past them in midweek, it’ll give a good indication of where we are going into the final phase of the season.
Head To Head
- Fulham Wins 30 | Draws 12 | PNE Wins 25.
- We have won 7 of the last 12 games against Preston, losing twice.
- Both teams have scored in the last 8 games against each other.
- This will be the fourth time in our history that we have had a fixture fall on 29th February.
- Preston’s record at the Cottage reads W10 | D6 | L18.
Preston North End – League Info 2019/20
- Position: 6th.
- Form:
- Scored: 49.
- Conceded: 40.
- Top Scorers: Tom Barkhuizen (11), Daniel Johnson (10), Josh Harrop (8).
- Form Table (Last 6 Matches): 6th (10pts).
- Average Possession: 51.4%
- Discipline: 55 Yellows | 2 Reds.
Players in Common
David Healy
Fulham: 34 apps, 6 goals (2007/2008).
PNE: 157 apps, 45 goals (2000-2004).
Gary Brazil, Mike Conroy, Dickson Etuhu, David Healy, Eddie Johnson, Eddie Lewis, Andy Lonergan, Brian McBride, Billy McKinlay, Gavin Nebbeling & Ben Pringle.
Josh’s View | @joshwalford99
Games in the Championship come thick and fast and we are back at the Cottage on Saturday with another challenging fixture in the form of Preston. This arrives just three days after our nail-biting 1-0 win over Swansea on Wednesday. Supporting Fulham is definitely like riding a rollercoaster and Wednesday night was no different, Aleksandar Mitrovic provided us with the winner in the last-minute, moments after seeing his penalty saved. Hopefully, we can continue the feel-good factor on Saturday and gain another three points against tough opposition.
The win over Swansea was our first in four and a very important one it was. Leeds have found their form once again and we will need to keep winning if we are to have any chance of achieving automatic promotion back to the Premier League. Mitrovic has now scored 23 goals this season, the most of any player in the Championship. The Serbian striker keeps proving his worth to the club and will need to continue firing on all cylinders if we are to break into the top two. Preston travel to West London sat sixth in the table, they are currently only four points behind us in third. Scott Parker and his players will know the importance of every game from now until the end of the season and Saturday is no different.
We have not had the best of luck with injuries so far this season. January signing Terence Kongolo is out for the remainder of the season, Alfie Mawson has had a knee operation and now Josh Onomah is expected to be out for around six weeks. This displays the importance of having depth in quality throughout the squad. I think we have shown that we have one of the stronger squads in the division. One player that has possibly warranted a place in the starting 11 is Aboubakar Kamara. He came on for the last ten minutes against Swansea and had a big impact. The biggest contribution being the assist for Mitrovic’s goal, he got the ball out of his feet early and delivered a delicious cross; something I feel like we do not do enough. Pace and power are effective at any level of football and Kamara has this in abundance making him a threat to any defence.
I feel like we will be going into this game with a lot of confidence following the late winner against Swansea on Wednesday. I am going for a 2-0 win with goals from Mitrovic and Kamara.
