Current standings: Wolves 12th with 15 points, 4 W, 3 D, 5 L Fulham 15th with 12 points, 3 W, 3 D, 6 L
Match preview:
Fulham are 7 points clear of the relegation zone after Everton’s 7 points deduction saw them drop below Silva’s men. However, they were winless in the past four games, with their last win tracing back to October, 7th in a home match against Sheffield Utd. Additionally, they were the second least-scoring side in the first 12 matches, with Burnley being the only club to score less.
As if it weren’t enough, Palhinha won’t play for Fulham today as he’s serving a one-match ban. Fulham concede an average of 3 goals per game when Palhinha is absent, compared to 1.3 when he’s involved.
Wolves, on the other hand, have not shared Fulham’s goalscoring woes this season, with O’Neil’s men netting in 11 straight EPL games since Matchday 1 defeat against Man Utd. This is their second longest scoring streak since a run of 18 between August and December 2019.
Their Matchday 12 win over Spurs was surely the high point of O’Neil’s time at the club. 2 goals in the final minutes of the game saw Wolves snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
While Gary O’Neil might not want to leave things so late tonight, Wolves have shown an ability to dig deep. Only title contenders Arsenal and Liverpool have scored more goals (both 7) in the final 10 minutes of Premier League matches than Wolves’ 6 in the first 12 matches.
The team’s manager will have to make at least a change in the starting 11, with Craig Dawson suspended after accumulating 5 yellow cards. Matt Doherty and Santiago Bueno are among the options to replace him.
Fulham vs Wolves head-to-head:
Wolves are unbeaten in their six EPL meetings with Fulham since they won promotion together back in 2018, recording 3 wins and 3 draws.
In these 6 occasions, only 7 goals were scored, 5 by Wolves and just 2 by the Cottagers, with neither scoring more than once in any of those games.
Recent form:
Fulham have alternated between losing (3) and winning (2) in their five home matches this season.
This time, they must overcome a bout of Monday Blues, having lost their last six games to take place on a Monday night.
Wolves’ last away game ended in a 2-1 defeat to Sheffield United, with Oliver Norwood scoring a stoppage-time penalty. They have collected two wins from six EPL road trips under O’Neil, beating Everton and Bournemouth.
(Credits: theanalyst.com) Sorry for any mistakes, English is not my first language.
Wolves without the VAR mistakes would be 6th or 7th.
Fulham are horrible without Palhinha and looked abysmal at home lately.
Everything suggests wolves win, but the bookies dropped the odds on Fulham to win
So I’m guessing Fulham scrape a 1-0 from a dodgy var decision
Very close!
3-2 from 5 dodgy VAR decisions.
Haha, I knew the refs would fuck wolves. Refs probably had a bet on it too
American here incredibly new to PL… Is this accepted as common knowledge?? Lmao watching the game I was like “fuck, refs must hate the wolves”.
This season atleast. Last season I think it was Brighton? Wolves have had terrible ref calls against them 3~ times already. Media just doesn’t cover it frequently because it’s not a large team like Arsenal or Liverpool.
Also, Gary O’Neil hasn’t been as out spoken as Arteta or Klopp, but it’s very evident that Wolves have been on the receiving end more than any other team. It’s a shame that managers who were so outspoken previously aren’t backing Wolves.