Fulham v AFC Bournemouth

billythekid

billythekid

UTC Legend
With Three Games To Go A Place In Europe Is A Possibility

AFCB go into this game on an unbeaten club record run of 15 games unbeaten and are in 6th place in the table. Our last four games have been 3 wins and a draw. The team have been playing full of confidence, which hopefully will get us over the line and into Europe. Our last three games won’t be easy with two teams playing well.

The Cherries travel to Craven Cottage to play Fulham on Saturday at 3 pm. Their manager Marco Silva is in his fifth and what looks like to be last season at the Cottage. So as with Crystal Palace, we have again two managers in their last seasons at their clubs facing each other.

Andoni Iraola in his three seasons as AFCB manager, has the edge going into this game over Marco Silva, with 3 wins, 1 draw and a defeat against his team. The draw and defeat were at Craven Cottage.

Since our home game at Dean Court in October, Fulham at home have won 8, drawn 1, lost 4. Away from home they have won 4, drawn 3, lost 7. In their last six home games, they have won 4 and lost 2. AFCB in their last six away games, have won 4 and drawn 2.

The last time our two sides met at Craven Cottage was on the 29th December 2024.

Raul Jiminez put Fulham 1-0 up in the first half. Evanilson equalised for the Cherries six minutes into the second half. Harry Wilson put the home side back in the lead after 72 minutes, only for Dango Ouattara to equalise in the 89th minute.

In all our league games away against Fulham, AFCB have W 5, D 8, L 5.
In all competitions, AFCB have W 17, D 13, L 12.

Fulham Team News
Ryan Sessegnon, Alex Iwobi and Kevin are all on the injury list.

Fulham Player To Watch
Harry Wilson is probably having his best season for Fulham in the Premier League. He is leading with both goals and assists. He has scored 10 goals and has 6 assists.

AFCB Team News
Apart from the three players we know about, Justin Kluivert, Lewis Cook and Julio Soler, there has been no reported news of any other injuries.

AFCB Player To Watch
Junior Kroupi needs one more goal to beat the record for a teenager in their debut season in the history of the Premier League. Going into this game, he jointly holds the record with 12 goals, with Robbie Fowler and Robbie Keane. He has a chance of beating that with 3 games to go.

The Referee
Andy Madley is in charge of this game. He took our away game against Everton.
 
Doddle factor 3/10. If Bournemouth are serious about getting Europe, it’s these types of games they need to get a result from. Too many draw’s such as those against Leeds and Burnley will be what could potentially cost the club a potential fairytale end to the season. Can’t see Chelsea, Spurs or Newcastle being this bad next season.
 
I’ve looked at the last 4 league games for Fulham. They had one home game (A Villa) and three away games (Liverpool, Brentford and Arsenal) which is a tricky run. Fulham have gained 4 points which is a reasonably fair return. The xG value for goals scored is 3.36, compared with 1 actual goals which is an under achievement. Fulham have conceded 5 goals with xGc estimating 7.17 goals which is an over performance.

Goals Xg.jpg

Fulham have had 1 goal scorer (Sessegnon) with an assist by Lukic.


The average positions of the starting line-ups are below. There is no clear pattern apart from the band around the middle third observed for quite a few Premier League teams.

Av Pos.jpg


The following plot compares summary stats of Fulham and AFCB over the last 4 games. Attacking statistics are mainly in AFCB’s favour, being much higher in all the metrics except goal attempts, indicating that Fulham have had many more low-chance shots. Defensively, it is all in AFCB’s favour. This is promising, although Fulham’s run has been tough, although we have also played Arsenal away.

Comparison.png

AFCB have slightly higher possession, although have a slightly lower pass completion percentage. The proportion of chances created from set pieces is similar, although. AFCB have conceded a high proportion from set pieces, although the fixture list has generally pitted them against set piece teams (Arsenal, Newcastle, Leeds and C Palace).

Percentages.png
 
Massive massive game. Win this and we really are on the cusp of securing a top 8 finish.
I am not going to mention the 'E' word, but I can't see any of the teams currently on 47/48 points overhauling 55 points, and probably not Brentford either with their run in.
I am confident the players are as focused as they need to be to get the job done at Fulham.
Can't help but be excited for this one.
 
Audenshaw Cherry said:
I’m getting very nervous now.
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To deal with the anxiety I have just started to convince myself that they won't let us play in Europe anyway, even if we do actually qualify.
Our hand driers won't have the right number of Beauforts or the soap dispensers will have the wrong kind of soap or something.

So I no longer envision us playing in Europe, I would just be proud if we could at least qualify for Europe.
 
bremen said:
Doddle factor 3/10. If Bournemouth are serious about getting Europe, it’s these types of games they need to get a result from. Too many draw’s such as those against Leeds and Burnley will be what could potentially cost the club a potential fairytale end to the season. Can’t see Chelsea, Spurs or Newcastle being this bad next season.
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I'd agree, but many said that about spurs last season.
 
bremen said:
Doddle factor 3/10. If Bournemouth are serious about getting Europe, it’s these types of games they need to get a result from. Too many draw’s such as those against Leeds and Burnley will be what could potentially cost the club a potential fairytale end to the season. Can’t see Chelsea, Spurs or Newcastle being this bad next season.
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Or maybe we’ll go up another level
 
bremen said:
Doddle factor 3/10. If Bournemouth are serious about getting Europe, it’s these types of games they need to get a result from. Too many draw’s such as those against Leeds and Burnley will be what could potentially cost the club a potential fairytale end to the season. Can’t see Chelsea, Spurs or Newcastle being this bad next season.
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You must be great fun down the pub! That’s the spirit.
 
What wouldn’t surprise me is if Bournemouth secure a spot that in other seasons would qualify, but something happens to stop it. Bit like last season where Palace winning the cup stops 8th place qualifying for Europe!
 
here to play said:
Massive massive game. Win this and we really are on the cusp of securing a top 8 finish.
I am not going to mention the 'E' word, but I can't see any of the teams currently on 47/48 points overhauling 55 points, and probably not Brentford either with their run in.
I am confident the players are as focused as they need to be to get the job done at Fulham.
Can't help but be excited for this one.
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Its just Brighton man, have such an favourable run in.
 
If Fulham are still without Iwobi and Sessegnon then this is a huge opportunity. They are their two best players along with Wilson.

I actually worry about this one. I think we might need to win as their last two games are Wolves away and Newcastle at home. A draw here would put them in a good position to overtake us. If they beat us then they are almost certain to overtake us. If we win then they can’t catch us. It feels like a straight shoot out for Europe but a draw would work for them too.

It’s a weird one though as every time I’ve seen them play they have looked very ordinary, I think that we are a better team at least right now.
 
It's that time of the season when you can never really know what team will turn up with some sides. And managers may decide to take a look at reserves or youth team players.

You might suddenly get a worldy performance from Mane at Wolves who will want to stay in the PL and will want to catch the eye of scouts one last time before the summer window.

You might get Man Utd on the beach now that CL is secured and they can't really do anything else to affect their season.

Then again, Wolves could completely disintegrate and Man Utd youngsters/reserves may make a case to have a more important role next season.

You only have to look at how the reserves performed for Palace and Villa compared to the reserves for Forest.
 
JT_AFCB said:
Do they? They play Wolves at home but then they finish the season against two of the most in form teams in the league in Leeds and United.
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Wolves at home. Enough said.

Leeds and United have pretty much nothing to play for, although could see Brighton dropping points. Its certainly a much easier run than away v Fulham and Forest and of course City.
 
Ice8Cold said:
Wolves at home. Enough said.

Leeds and United have pretty much nothing to play for, although could see Brighton dropping points. Its certainly a much easier run than away v Fulham and Forest and of course City.
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It’s easier but I wouldn’t say much easier. Forest will have nothing to play for either and will possibly be coming off of a Europa league final. Fulham are pretty ordinary and City play us after the fa cup final following a very intense schedule. I think that Brighton will beat Wolves but could I would not be surprised if they lost at Leeds.
 
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