Fulham square off against Preston North End on Saturday afternoon, looking to strengthen their position at the top of the Championship standings.
While Preston have been inconsistent of late, Tuesday's comeback 2-1 victory at Middlesbrough has kept them within seven points of the playoffs.
Match preview
© Reuters
Although Fulham have been far from a one-man team this season, the absence of Aleksandar Mitrovic against Derby County suggested otherwise as they failed to find the back of the net against the bottom-placed side.
Despite credit needing to be given to their opponents, Marco Silva would have been bitterly disappointed with being held to a goalless draw by the Rams.
On a positive note, none of their direct rivals took advantage, but the Portuguese will only feel extra reliant on top goalscorer Mitrovic heading into the Christmas period.
Summer arrival Rodrigo Muniz was making his first start in the second tier of English football, and the 20-year-old found it considerably more difficult to when he netted twice as a substitute against 10-man Blackburn Rovers earlier this month.
Silva would been satisfied with another clean sheet being added to their tally, Fulham now shutting out the opposition in six of their last seven matches.
© Reuters
Consistency has prevented Preston from living up to their potential this season, but Frankie McAvoy will feel that his squad are beginning to find an extra gear.
Tuesday's triumph at the Riverside Stadium represented their fourth victory in seven games, while it was the second time that they had overturned a one-goal deficit during that period.
Emil Riis Jakobsen added his eighth Championship goal of the campaign in the North-East, while Ched Evans contributed his first after barely featuring since August.
While Fulham will likely prove to be one of their tougher tests this season, Preston will take confidence from defeating their title rivals Bournemouth as recently as November 3.
- L
- W
- W
- L
- L
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- D
Team News
© Reuters
With Tuesday's cameo his first appearance in three months, Evans is likely to remain on the Preston substitutes' bench for this contest.
Daniel Johnson and Scott Sinclair are pushing for starting roles, but McAvoy may opt to keep the same team which started at Middlesbrough.
With Tom Cairney and Mitrovic having both been sidelined through illness this week, they are unlikely to come back into contention for a starting role.
Silva may stick with the same Fulham XI, although the likes of Josh Onomah and Bobby Reid are both pushing for recalls.
A reshuffle may lead to Muniz starting this fixture among the replacements and Harry Wilson being used in a central position.
Preston North End possible starting lineup:
Iversen; Van den Berg, Bauer, Hughes; Barkhuizen, McCann, Whiteman, Earl; Browne; Maguire, Riis
Fulham possible starting lineup:
Gazzaniga; Tete, Adarabioyo, Ream, Robinson; Seri, Reed; Reid, Carvalho, Kebano; Wilson
We say: Preston North End 0-2 Fulham
Having failed to net against the division's bottom side, Fulham will be motivated to put things right on Saturday. Regardless of whether Mitrovic returns to the fold, we would still back the Cottagers to claim all three points with a clean sheet.
Top tip
Darren Plant
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 56.91%. A draw had a probability of 24.2% and a win for Preston North End had a probability of 18.92%.
The most likely scoreline for a Fulham win was 0-1 with a probability of 13.4%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (11.22%) and 1-2 (9.55%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.4%), while for a Preston North End win it was 1-0 (6.81%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.4% likelihood.
