TEAM NEWS
Left-back Joe Bryan is definitely out with a hamstring injury, but fellow defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah is hoping to be fit after a shoulder problem. Fulham captain Tom Cairney is in contention to return, having only played 26 minutes as a substitute since August because of an ankle injury.
Bournemouth full-back Charlie Daniels is nearing a return from a knee injury but will not be involved this weekend. Forward Joshua King could make his 200th English league appearance.
MOTD COMMENTATOR’S NOTES
Jonathan Pearce: Forwards can win a match with a moment of individual brilliance. Clean sheets only come through bonded mutual defensive reliance. Slavisa Jokanovic unglued the bond that had tied his team together through the grinding promotion campaign in the first game of this season, fielding six new players against Palace.
Half of the promotion team had been discarded. Dressing room division! Twenty-five goals conceded. Bournemouth got it right. They stuck by their promoted team, strengthening gradually into a hardened unit capable of winning four of its last six games.
If Fulham don’t defend soon with an 11-man bond, they’ll go down.
VIEW FROM THE DUGOUT
Fulham head coach Slavisa Jokanovic: “We started more or less the same way last season and found a way to find confidence and start playing better football. We can’t compare one season with another.
“Seasons are full of good and less good afternoons. We are still looking for a way to adapt ourselves. When we find a way our mood will be better.”
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe: “I have respect for Jokanovic, but not sympathy. I know he’s an outstanding coach and you can see his work on the pitch with how his team plays.
“The style of play is one that draws a lot of praise, a lot of plaudits last year for the way they did it. They haven’t changed and they haven’t adapted that, they’re trying to enhance that this season and I’ve got a lot of respect for that way of working.”
LAWRO’S PREDICTION
I know people are looking at Fulham and thinking they are in trouble but I am still confident they will get a positive result soon.
This will be an open game, because Bournemouth are an attacking team too, and I think that will suit Slavisa Jokanovic’s side – I am expecting a little bit of a revival at Craven Cottage.
Prediction: 2-0
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
- This is the first top-flight meeting.
- Fulham have won just two of the last 16 encounters in all competitions, drawing five and losing nine.
Fulham
- Fulham have conceded a league-high 25 goals this season – the second highest tally at this stage of a Premier League season, after Southampton’s 26 in 2012-13.
- The Premier League record after 10 matches is 28, set by Barnsley in 1997-98 and Saints in 2012-13.
- Fulham could equal their Premier League club record of 14 consecutive matches without a clean sheet on Saturday.
- They are one win shy of 300 in the top flight.
- Aleksandar Mitrovic is without a goal in three Premier League games, having scored five in his first six appearances in the division.
Bournemouth
- Bournemouth have taken 23 points from the last 33 available (W7, D2, L2).
- They have won four of their past six games in all competitions, drawing one and losing one.
- The Cherries have won three of their last five league away games, as many as in their previous 19 attempts.
- However, they have only won one of their eight Premier League away games against promoted opposition.
- With three goals and four assists, Callum Wilson has been directly involved in more Premier League goals this season than any other Englishman.
