Fulham vs. West Bromwich Albion - Barclays Premier League - Preview

A relegation decider? Not quite, however after defeat at Newcastle, a win against a side that will ultimately be in and around us, come the end of the season would be welcome. A couple of goals would boost morale and kick-start our campaign, but I'd take a 1-0 all the same.

 

Image courtesy of mirror.co.uk; no copyright intended.

 

There's been quite a lot of doom and gloom doing the rounds in the online "Fulhamverse" after the defeat at St. James Park, thanks to a Ben-Arfa worldie; the "Jol-Out!" bridage has picked up some force already but, should this be the case?

In a word, No. Yes, we didn't exactly show much going forward but there were positives to be taken; after all, we'd been denied a stonewall penalty from Scott Parker's surge. Defensively we were very solid and David Stockdale put in another MoM display, which can only bode well for games to come. This is vital, considering that Maarten Stekelenburg has again, been ruled out for a couple of weeks.

West Brom may well be, the perfect opposition to be up against; they let you play, and more importantly we have a very good record against the Baggies (at home). They have only scored two goals at the Cottage in the Premier League years, the last of which came from Somen Tchoyi, after Clint Dempsey had given us the lead in Martin Jol's first season in charge.

Image courtesy of fulhamfc.com; no copyright intended.

If we can perform as well as we did in the corresponding fixture last season, a 3-0 win on Dimitar Berbatov's home debut, with the Bulgarian scoring two (see top picture), there's no reason we can't stick another few past Steve Clarke's men. It's also easy to forget that Fulham did actually do the double over West Brom last season; in both games we looked a lot better than our opponents, despite being under the cosh at times in the away fixture.

Alex Kacaniklic got the winner that day (see above), and I think the nippy little Swede could be key again. He gave Billy Jones the absolute run-around in both games last season (winning the penalty for Berbatov's second and leaving him for dead for his goal at the Hawthorns) -  if, come Saturday, Kacaniklic is in the starting eleven, I can see Jones wanting to start the game on the bench.

Don't get me wrong, I am wary of West Brom; I've been a great admirer of both Graham Dorrans and James Morrison for some time, (the latter will face a fitness test), Nicolas Anelka, Youssef Mulumbu, Jonas Olsson are all fine players. However, I think the real threat, if he starts, could come from new signing, Stephane Sessegnon.

Image courtesy of thesun.co.uk; no copyright intended.

The Benin international scored twice against us last season, including that scorcher above and on his day can be a real menace for any defence. The only thing with Sessegnon is that he can be a bit "hit and miss" -  so we'll have to see which "one" turns up on Saturday, hopefully it's the miss.

From a Fulham point of view, we have quite a few players missing, coupled with a few coming back - as mentioned earlier Maarten Stekelenburg is still out, and he is joined by Aaron Hughes, Matthew Briggs and Darren Bent. Bent could be a big miss, as this is the sort of game in which he could thrive, and no doubt, grab a couple in.

On the plus side though, Sascha Riether is fit after the knock he picked up at Newcastle, Fernando Amorebeita played 90 minutes for Venezuela and, Kieran Richardson is back in contention after a four-week lay off.

Image courtesy of nydailynews.com

Bryan Ruiz also put in a MoM display for Costa Rica in their game with the U.S.A, in which they qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. I was pleased to hear about this as I am most definitely a "Bryan Ruiz fan"; the fact that Costa Rica have qualified means they'll be at least one Fulham representative out in South America.

After looking red-hot in pre-season, his form had dipped of late (admittedly he has only started the one game, which was last week against Newcastle). "The Weasel" has openly admitted that adding to his goal tally is his main aim this season, and with the addition of Adel Taarabt, hopefully we'll see Bryan, score a few more - because on his day, the guy can be a magician with the ball at his feet.

On an ending note, I think this "Jol Out" nonsense is absurd; we're three games in and yes, as I keep hearing our form dipped sharply last season - the key there... that was last season. The Dutchman needs time to mould his new-look squad into a fine starting eleven, and it would be a case of utter stupidity, if fans didn't show a little patience.

However if the worst came to the worst, I feel Shahid Khan would go down the same route as he has done at the Jackonsville Jaguars - young and ambitious. My preferred choices for that would be Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer, Danny Murphy, Lee Clark or even Kit Symons (in that order)... But, In Jol I Trust!

My starting line-up: 

Stockdale; Riether; Hangeland; Amorebeita; Riise (leave KR on bench, bring on); Dejagah (if fit); Parker; Boateng; Kacaniklic; Ruiz; Berbatov.

I would love to see Kasami in the "Dembele" role but more on that next week!


COYW!