Fulham vs Leicester City
Date: 03/02/2021
K/O: 18:00
Venue: Craven Cottage
Referee: Robert Jones
TV: BT Sports
Fulham look to build on an unbeaten run of two games on Wednesday evening when they host a Leicester City side who suffered an embarrassing hiccup against Leeds United and are in desperate need of recovering their form if they want to retain their place in the top four.
Yet Craven Cottage does not seem the opportune place to recover this form, nor Fulham the team to do it against, as not only have the Cottagers been putting up determined displays there, but they are one of the six teams to have beaten Leicester this season. This makes for a thrilling clash: the relegation battlers against the top four evidence – but the upper hands lies with the underdogs.
Lots of fight – now Fulham need the points
Fulham cannot be blamed for their efforts this season. Every time they play their performances are imbued with fantastic spirit and determination. Though this has been the case for much of the season, it is now starting to come through clearly in their results. Against Brighton and West Brom, Fulham put in fighting displays that could, perhaps should, have seen them come out with all three points rather than just one.
What Fulham fail to stop is quality at home, as they did against Manchester United (suffering a 1-2 loss) and against Chelsea before that (0-1). Leicester present this challenge when they are their best, but Fulham have stifled them before and they can do so again, especially when given the advantage of being at home and poor form on the Foxes’ behalf.
Although a continuation of their unbeaten run would be useful for Fulham, a succession of draws will not be enough to keep them in the Premier League. With Burnley hitting stride, and Brighton pulling out good results against Spurs, they’re now falling behind the pack – seven points behind Brighton and eight behind Burnley and Newcastle. This gap might already be too big, but if the Cottagers want to have any chance of broaching it, they’re going to need to start amassing points quickly.
Leicester are the perfect opportunity to do so. A run of even two wins in a row would be enough to pull them back into touching distance of the league pack and push them on even further with a boost to their morale. Scott Parker will see this as an opportunity to get their season back up and running – he will be praying the players keep up the fight, and take it.
Just a hiccup? Or something more dangerous?
Leicester’s game against Leeds was characterised by the simple fact that they were outperformed. Leeds ran harder, committed more, and put in a better shift than the Foxes did. In the moments that counted it was Leeds that stepped up, and Leicester that made the mistakes that saw them falter. It is not something that has happened often for Leicester this season, but they were made to look like fools by the Whites. They were sloppy and they were punished for it. Simply put, they deserved to lose.
Bouncing back for the Foxes will require a dramatic overturn of the performance that downed them at home against Leeds. But that is easier said than done, considering Leicester’s injury problems seem to be returning. Wilfrid Ndidi and Jamie Vardy were both already out, but their game against Leeds saw them lose two more first-team players in starlet Wesley Fofana and full-back Timothy Castagne. While the Foxes are fortunate enough to have quality replacements lined up in the form of Caglar Soyuncu and Ricardo Pereira, both of whom were in Leicester’s best starting 11 last year, the loss of players who have been playing fantastically over the last few months is undoubtedly a loss.
If they cannot get themselves back into form, Leicester face capitulating their excellent position in the table. Despite losing to Leeds, the Foxes are still fourth with a four-point gap between them and West Ham. But they cannot afford to lose more points than they already have done. Leicester missed out on Champions League football last year after a latter-season meltdown – they cannot let that happen again, and they cannot let their loss to Leeds be the start of a similar collapse.
Team News
Fulham
Scott Parker will miss only Tom Cairney and Terrence Kongolo for the Leicester clash, as they remain out with knee and hamstring issues respectively. Other than this they have a full squad available to them, leaving Scott Parker with tough choices to make upfront and at the back.
Leicester
Leicester, on the other hand, have a number of injuries to deal with. Wes Morgan has a back problem, Dennis Praet is missing through a hamstring injury whilst Jamie Vardy is still recovering from Hernia surgery. Wesley Fofana has a hamstring issue as mentioned with Timothy Castagne suffering from a slight problem with his hamstring – not to mention Wilfrid Ndidi, who has a tightness in his thigh. Though these leave Leicester short, they will still be able to field a strong starting XI.
Predicted Starting XIs
Fulham (3-4-2-1): Areola; Aina, Andersen, Adarabioyo; Reid, Zambo Anguissa, Reed, Robinson; Loftus-Cheek, Lookman; Mitrovic
Leicester City (4-2-3-1): Schmeichel; Ricardo, Evans, Soyuncu, Justin; Mendy, Tielemans; Under, Maddison, Barnes; Perez
Score Prediction: Fulham 1-1 Leicester City
I don’t think Leicester will be able to turn around their poor performance on Sunday quickly enough to find a win at Craven Cottage, and I expect Fulham to put in a good enough performance to hold them to a draw. If there were to be a winner, I would put the Cottagers as favourites to do so.
