Fulham play host to Millwall on Tuesday evening looking to strengthen their position at the top of the Championship standings.
While the Cottagers sit five points clear in first place, London rivals Millwall are down in 15th position, albeit with at least one game in hand.
Match preview
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Somewhat unexpectedly, Marco Silva decided to name a full-strength team for Saturday's FA Cup tie at Manchester City, Fulham going down 4-1 to the Premier League leaders at the Etihad Stadium.
Nevertheless, the Portuguese would have learned more about his team ahead of potential promotion, and he would have been left impressed with their start after Fabio Carvalho's fourth-minute goal.
The Cottagers were ultimately overpowered in the end but it will be deemed as a beneficial workout after the disappointing 1-1 draw with Blackpool a week earlier.
Despite that stalemate, Silva's side still sit five points clear of Blackburn Rovers, who lost out to Swansea City on Saturday and have now played two games more than the West Londoners.
However, Silva will insist that Fulham focus on their own business, particularly at home where they have scored 37 goals during their 15 matches.
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Goals have not come so easily for Millwall this season, the Lions netting just 29 times during their 28 matches, but Gary Rowett will be content with their recent improvements.
On the back of four straight defeats in all competitions, four points and consecutive clean sheets have come from fixtures against West Bromwich Albion and Preston North End.
As it stands, a sustained bid for the playoffs seems unlikely, but Millwall face a number of fixtures against fellow top-six contenders over the coming weeks.
On a negative note, the East Londoners have lost four of their last five fixtures away from home, including their last two at Bristol City and Blackpool respectively.
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Team News
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Antonee Robinson could return to the Fulham starting lineup after representing the United States over the past week.
Goalkeeper Marek Rodak is in line to replace Paulo Gazzaniga, while Jean Michael Seri or Tom Cairney should feature in midfield.
Ivan Cavaleiro is an option in the final third if Silva wishes to introduce fresh legs in that area of the pitch.
Jed Wallace should be handed a recall to the Millwall XI after the club's goalless draw with Preston.
Barring any fitness issues, the remainder of the team may stay the same, with George Saville only being named among the replacements after recovering from injury.
Fulham possible starting lineup:
Rodak; Williams, Adarabioyo, Ream, Robinson; Reed, Cairney; Wilson, Carvalho, Kebano; Mitrovic
Millwall possible starting lineup:
Bialkowski; Cooper, Hutchinson, M. Wallace; McNamara, Mitchell, Kieftenbeld, Malone; Freeman, J. Wallace; Afobe
We say: Fulham 2-0 Millwall
Millwall would have been delighted to see Silva name a first-choice side at the weekend while they were enjoying a rest. Nevertheless, we still do not think that will influence the end result with Fulham producing a professional performance to claim all three points.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Fulham win with a probability of 66.02%. A draw had a probability of 20.3% and a win for Millwall had a probability of 13.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Fulham win was 2-0 with a probability of 12.31%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (12.23%) and 2-1 (9.7%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.64%), while for a Millwall win it was 0-1 (4.79%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with an 8.3% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Fulham would win this match.
