I am not overly optimistic about getting a win this evening, but we are not facing a team that are unbeatable. They have their weaknesses, and I focused on a few key battles we have to win tonight.
1) Try to stop their biggest threat
Ryan Sessegnon is in scintillating form, and he is likely to start after being rested against Norwich on Friday. Slavisa Jokanovic’s side usually focus their attacks on the flanks, especially now they have a target man in Aleksandar Mitrovic playing up top, The performances of Berardi and Pablo defensively tonight will have a huge bearing on the result. Their no.3 has scored 14 goals and provided five assists already this season so many defences have failed to stop him. Hopefully, we can be an exception.
2. Limit space in front of the defence
Tom Cairney has rediscovered his form of last season in the last month or so. Their captain has scored three goals and provided one assist in his last four outings, and will be a huge threat to our backline. We can do with Ronaldo Vieira putting in another shift alongside Adam Forshaw tonight, screening and breaking up play. We have to limit their midfielders space in the final third so even if they do dominate the ball, they find it hard to create chances.
3. Being clinical in the penalty box
In their last home game against QPR, the Cottagers conceded no less than ten shots inside their own penalty box according to Whoscored. Rangers managed to convert two of those chances into goals to get a 2-2 draw despite less possession. Considering our profligacy in front of goal against Bolton on Good Friday, I am hoping we can improve on this if our opponents are again as generous with giving chances away in their own box.
4. Disrupt the flow of the game
Possession is king for this Fulham side. The more they have, the likelier they are going to score, especially against a team such as ours which has conceded on average 1.5 goals a game away from home this season. We have to be in their faces and disrupt the flow of the match at every possible opportunity. We can’t afford for their players to get into a rhythm, or we’ll be in for a long night.