Fulham v Burnley Match Preview
It’s time. It’s us or Fulham. It’s now or never. Time to put this season to bed and add to those earlier away wins in London at Arsenal and Crystal Palace. And my mind drifts back to the 2008-09 season and the year of “Capital Punishment” when Robbie Blake was in his pomp and we defeated Fulham, Arsenal, and Chelsea in the League Cup and were cruelly denied victory in extra time over Tottenham in the Semi Final when we would have gone through on away goals scored had the tie finished after 90minutes of the second leg. And that is a FACT.
Fulham have just about run out of bullets in the shootout in the OK Corral. They need a win whilst a draw in this fixture would leave them to die an agonising lingering death. When these two sides met in February Ashley Barnes quickly equalised for the Clarets following a great break from Jay Rodriguez to cancel out Aina’s chested opener. Ashley and Jay will probably have to do with starting on the bench on this occasion as the Wood/Vydra partnership looks set to continue. Fulham could be missing the lively Harrison Reed from their midfield while Burnley are likely to be unchanged from the side that disappointingly let yet another lead slip away against West Ham. Burnley were simply not on their game allowing Michail Antonio two close range finishes from crosses into the box. Fulham will be looking to raid the wings and put in the type of crosses which brought the Hammers so much joy. Maybe Mitrovic will start or come off the bench if Fulham see a weakness in the Claret’s back line.
The referee is David Coote with Peter Bankes on VAR. Let’s not wait any longer to guarantee our PL status. Let’s look forward to when crowds return to our football grounds. COYC!