It is undeniably tough going for Fulham at the moment though. They haven’t won since November and are looking more like prime relegation candidates with every week that goes by. However, they have certainly improved since Claudio Ranieri’s appointment as manager. They beat Southampton in a 3-2 thriller and have taken a point off Leicester, Newcastle, and Wolves since then. In fact, their only defeats have come against big hitters Chelsea and Manchester United, and the rather more disappointing defeat against West Ham. Huddersfield, meanwhile, are showing absolutely no signs of improvement. They unsurprisingly lost 3-1 at Manchester United on Boxing Day, a result which makes it 6 defeats on the bounce for the struggling Terriers.
Fulham were afforded a late Christmas present on Boxing Day as The Cottagers picked up a hard earned point at home to Wolves. This resulted in them lifting off the bottom of the table, leapfrogging none other than Huddersfield and putting themselves 4 points adrift of safety as we enter the second half of the season. Their last victory came back on the same weekend as Fulham’s last win, but while the hosts have been quietly improving Huddersfield seem to be slipping further and further behind. They have scored a meagre 12 goals in the Premier League this season and just 2 in their last 4 outings. Fulham may have the worst defensive record going, but even they will feel like they have a chance at a clean sheet here. The Cottagers aren’t the best going forward themselves, but their recent improvements do make me think a home win is good value here.
The bottom two teams exchanged places after Wednesday's results, with Fulham's point against Wolves enough to see them climb above Huddersfield, who lost at Manchester United. Aleksandar Mitrovic had enough chances to win the game for the Cottagers but I just felt while I was watching it that Wolves were always going to score, because Fulham were sitting so deep. I wanted to say to them to get 20 or 30 yards up the pitch because then, if you make a mistake, someone might be able to recover for you. Instead, Wolves got in down their left to put in a great cross, Fulham left-back Joe Bryan fell asleep a little bit - and that was all it took for them to drop two points. If they had held a higher line in the first place, then they would still have had a chance to rectify the problem rather than be left trying to clear the ball from underneath their own crossbar. I can understand what Fulham boss Claudio Ranieri was trying to do by sitting so deep and not giving Wolves any space in and around their area but once somebody gets behind you like that, with time to put in a measured cross like that one, then you are in trouble. At least Fulham are scrapping for Ranieri, though, even if they have not won since his first match in charge - which was seven games ago - and the fans are still behind his side. Huddersfield are still fighting for David Wagner as well and they had enough chances in their defeat by Manchester United to make that game a lot closer. The Terriers very rarely get taken apart by anyone, but they do not score enough goals to get anything out of games. It will be interesting to see if Wagner is a little bit more adventurous in this game, because Fulham are the nearest team to them, or does he continue to try to keep things tight? This will be another close one, but I am expecting Fulham to come out on top.
It is undeniably tough going for Fulham at the moment though. They haven’t won since November and are looking more like prime relegation candidates with every week that goes by.
However, they have certainly improved since Claudio Ranieri’s appointment as manager. They beat Southampton in a 3-2 thriller and have taken a point off Leicester, Newcastle, and Wolves since then. In fact, their only defeats have come against big hitters Chelsea and Manchester United, and the rather more disappointing defeat against West Ham.
Huddersfield, meanwhile, are showing absolutely no signs of improvement. They unsurprisingly lost 3-1 at Manchester United on Boxing Day, a result which makes it 6 defeats on the bounce for the struggling Terriers.