The Premier League weekend concludes with the Monday Night Football which this week takes us to Craven Cottage where Fulham will look for a convincing performance when they play host to an up and down Wolverhampton Wanderers.
These two sides both start the night in the bottom half of the table but they can each move up a couple of places with a win so there is certainly a nice incentive for them to pick up the three points in this one.
Where to watch
The match will be shown on the Monday Night Football programme which will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League channels. The programme begins at 6.30pm ahead of an 8pm kick off.
Fulham
The Cottagers were always going to be one of those sides who many would have expected to regress this term, not just because it is their second season in the division but because they lost their talisman quite late in the transfer window. They haven’t disappointed in that regard. They have just three wins from their opening 12 matches and in two of those, at Everton and at home to Luton, the opposition passed up some huge chances to get something from the match.
Goals have been a real issue for Fulham. They only have 10 of them to their name this term which is now the joint lowest in the league and if that doesn’t change soon then they are going to find themselves in a relegation battle. Fulham haven’t kept a clean sheet in the last six matches so when you are not scoring goals and are not keeping them out of your own net that is not a combination which is going to deliver the goods.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
This has been a very strange season for Wolverhampton Wanderers. It started in auspicious circumstances when their manager resigned the week before it began but in the main I think they have exceeded expectations. They sit two places outside the top half of the table when many expected them to be lodged into a relegation battle this term and have won four and drawn three of their 12 matches, which at this level is more than acceptable.
There is an up and down element to this Wolves side though. They have beaten the likes of Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur this season but they have also lost to Sheffield United and Crystal Palace and were lucky not to lose at Luton. They will be looking for some consistency but they have a couple of wins on the road and they will be aiming to build on that. Despite some key injuries they look to have goals in them which is no bad thing.
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Team News
Fulham will be without a couple of key players for this match because Joao Paulinha is suspended having picked up five cards while Issa Diop remains out with a foot injury. Injury will deny Adama Traore the chance to take on his former club.
Wolverhampton Wanderers also have a key suspension to deal with for this match as central defender Craig Dawson has picked up five yellow cards. They are boosted by the availability of Mario Lemina but Pedro Neto remains out.
Betting
I guess the big question heading into this match from a betting point of view is whether you trust either of these two sides. Joao Paulinha is generally a talisman in the heart of the midfield for Fulham, who just don’t score enough goals for my liking anyway, and he is out, while Pedro Neto is a huge player for Wolverhampton Wanderers and they are nothing like the same side in his absence so I’m more than happy to leave the match outcome alone.
There is a strange statistic though that in the last six Wolves matches, the opposition has had a central midfielder booked and sometimes both players in that position booked. With this match likely to be competitive and Wolves sending a lot of play through the middle in the likes of Joao Gomes, Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, Mario Lemina and Matheus Cunha deep, I wouldn’t be surprised were another Fulham central midfielder be booked here. I would imagine Sasa Lukic will replace Paulinha and he comes in here having been booked for Serbia last week. He doesn’t start too often so he might struggle with the pace of the game in the early stages of the match so he is prime for a booking at 21/10.
Tips
Back S.Lukic to be shown a card for a 2/10 stake at 3.10 with Betfair
