Fulham v Villa
Team news from the
BBC:
Fulham midfielder Papa Bouba Diop's continuing ankle injury again rules him out of action.
Claus Jensen, Moritz Volz and Steed Malbranque all remain in the treatment room, while goalkeeper Mark Crossley is a doubt with his hamstring injury.
A hamstring complaint may also force out Aston Villa striker James Milner.
Fellow fron man Luke Moore picked up a knock to his leg on Boxing Day, while Olof Melberg (hamstring) and Kevin Phillips (ankle) remain unavailable.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fulham (from): Warner, Crossley, Rosenior, Bocanegra, Christanval, Knight, Goma, Pearce, Leacock, Elrich, Legwinski, Boa Morte, Radzinski, McBride, John, Helguson.
Aston Villa (from): Sorensen, Hughes, Delaney, Ridgewell, Bouma, Milner, Bakke, Davis, McCann, Barry, Angel, Moore, Baros, Taylor, De la Cruz, Gardner, Samuel.
This is Footymads Preview:
Aston Villa face a trip to Fulham at Craven Cottage on Wednesday evening, hoping to improve upon an average previous return from this fixture. Of the 22 games played, Villans have recorded 3 wins, and Fulham have come away with 11 victories.
The most recent encounter between these two sides was less than a year ago, in February 2005, where the two sides shared the spoils courtesy of a 1 - 1 final scoreline in a Premiership match.
For a detailed analysis of the head-to-head between the two sides, click here
Recent encounters between the teams:
2004/2005 Wed 02 Feb Fulham 1 - 1 Aston Villa PREM
2004/2005 Sat 23 Oct Aston Villa 2 - 0 Fulham PREM
2003/2004 Wed 11 Feb Fulham 1 - 2 Aston Villa PREM
2003/2004 Sun 28 Dec Aston Villa 3 - 0 Fulham PREM
2002/2003 Sat 08 Feb Fulham 2 - 1 Aston Villa PREM
2002/2003 Sat 09 Nov Aston Villa 3 - 1 Fulham PREM
2001/2002 Sat 02 Feb Fulham 0 - 0 Aston Villa PREM
Recent respective form guides
Fulham are showing reasonable home form, having won four and lost two from the last six played. A total of 12 goals have been scored by the Cottagers in those games, with 9 conceded.
Aston Villa have an average recent record on the road, with two wins, two draws, and two defeats. The Villans's have scored 7 goals in these games, but conceded an alarming 9.
Fulham find themselves struggling down in 15th position in the league having picked up 19 points from their 18 matches. Aston Villa find themselves struggling down in 14th position in the league having picked up 20 points from their 18 matches.
Current form guides: P W D L F A P
Fulham 6 2 1 3 8 9 7
Aston Villa 6 2 2 2 7 7 8
.....so Villa have only lost 1 in the last 7 v Fulham, & only 1 in the last 4 away at Fulhams various homes. Villa should have won this fixture last year with Angel missing either 2 pens or a twice taken one I cant quite remember.
As usual I fully expect people to tip Villa to lose here, & Fulhams recent home form is decent at 4-0-1-10-6 & their overall home form is 5-1-2-12-8.
Villa away are 2-3-4-9-14 with only wins at Sunderland & Birmingham to show for their efforts, but they've only lost 1 of the last 5 away games & indeed 1 in the last 6 overall. Winning at Sunderland was expected I guess but theyve frightened a couple of supposed 'better teams' since. Charlton were in their poor run when losing at Villa but we should have won at Newcastle with missing a late penalty & got a decent draw at Bolton. Villa were desperate against Man Utd but I dont believe the belief was there to do well against them.
Villa arent a great side at all I wont bullshit anybody, & we made nearly as many unforced errors as Everton on boxing day tbh. Whilst I felt we did enough to win as we looked sharper I would have said 2 goals probably flattered us & 4 was a joke, but thats the type of run Everton are in...lets not forget they conceded 4 at Albion & also Bolton at home. The first goal was a disgrace that it was allowed but weve had similar shite decisions go against us but the difference is that up till now (Fulham tomorrow & Albion monday
) we havent rolled over in any 6 pointers & are undefeated against any side in the bottom 11 in the table except Boro, & if we keep that up we wont get dragged in to the real relegation battle.
This isnt high & mighty or believing Villa are something theyre not, as it could all change....but I dont think we're the soft touches everybody thinks we are against similar teams. Mellberg has been a big player for us in recent years & hes missing again but I thought Delaney impressed yesterday & as long as we can keep it away from Ridgewell on the deck then we'll be ok....as he surely is a special kind of shit on the ground
Whilst McCann is supplying bite in the midfield I dont see us getting outfought by similar teams around us.
I thought Fulham would be shorter in the bookies eyes tbh which confuses matters but I cant see them beating us tomorrow night as Villa have done well in this type of fixture.
Before you all laugh there was a lot of you on Newcastle & Bolton to beat Villa in the last 2 away games & I advised against it, 2 draws was the result.
Lay Fulham