Fulham vs Manchester United: Try and try until you succeed

Fulham will have to do better than they did at Old Trafford last Saturday if they want to pick up any points.

Fulham will get a second go at Manchester United today as they look to build on their midweek win against West Ham and put even more space between themselves and the relegation zone. The Whites got shellacked in their tie with United in the FA cup a week ago 4-1, in a wholly uninspiring performance, and will need to vastly improve on that if they are to claw any points from this matchup.

With the transfer window closed, you may see some new faces on the pitch for the home fans to get a look at, the most likely being Emmanuel Frimpong. The loanee from Arsenal is hoping to get his first shot at providing midfield relief for Fulham, and there’s no better time to get minutes than the weekend following a midweek game, especially with Steve Sidwell out with a knee injury.

State of Fulham

It’s difficult to overstate the magnitude of the 3 points picked up during the week against West Ham. This club needed a win in the worst way, especially after the drubbing by United just prior, and while it wasn’t pretty, it’s still 3 points. It puts Fulham in 12th place, 8 points clear of the drop.

Today could be an exciting day, with not only Emmanuel Frimpong possibly getting his debut, but Urby Emanuelson will also have a shot to play, and definitely even start. While it’s not normal for Martin Jol to give new players their debut in their first game, Fulham are a bit thin with injuries and therefore could force Emanuelson into the side. The versatile winger could be seen either at left-back with John Arne Riise’s form dipping, on the left wing, or even central midfield in attack. Like I mentioned earlier, Steve Sidwell is out with a knee issue (which is actually a big blow to the side), so you could see Emanuelson in the middle as support for Bryan Ruiz. Ruiz will most likely move up to his more preferred location in the attacking central midfield because Dimitar Berbatov will not play due to a hamstring injury. It will be interesting to see how Jol fits these new players in.

Not featuring will be the aforementioned Sidwell and Berbatov, as well as Kerim Frei and Mohamadou Diarra who both have long-term injuries. In addition, both Eyong Enoh and Stanislov Manolev have yet to receive work permits and therefore will not be able to play.

State of Manchester United

Things couldn’t be much better in Red, with United looking to go 10 points clear in first place with a victory at Craven Cottage. The squad is quite healthy, with Johnny Evans and Rio Ferdinand recently fit to return to the side. Only Ashley Young and possibly Javier Hernandez will miss out due to injury. United beat Southampton away midweek, although it was a grinding victory and a bit of a shaky defensive performance, so expect Jol to at least try to replicate that in some way. Not much more to be said here, they’re really good.

EA Sports Stats of the Match

- United have beaten Fulham in 6 of their last 7 matches in all competitions, with the lone other match a draw. The last time Fulham beat Manchester United was in 2009 at Craven Cottage. That’s the only win for Fulham in their last 23 matches against United.

- Fulham will seriously miss Dimitar Berbatov. That sounds like an obvious statement, but consider this: for all the crap he gets about being lazy, Berbatov is 2nd in the Premier League among strikers for passes in the opponent’s half of the pitch with 492.

- My guess at who replaces Berbatov is Mladen Petric. It’s a perfect chance for him to see some minutes, which he hasn’t gotten very many of recently, mostly because Hugo Rodallega pairs with Berbs much better. Petric has a goal every 138 minutes this season, good for 10th in the Premier League. If he’d been credited with the goal Wednesday (instead of the Joey O’Brien own goal) that number would drop to a goal every 115 minutes, which would be 5th.

- Fulham’s suspect and porous defense has caused Mark Schwarzer to work hard this season. The Aussie’s made 126 saves this season (third in the Premier League), averaging a save every 16 minutes.

Prediction:

I’m not liking our chances. Like last Saturday, it will be more about what the performance looks like than what the final score is. Fulham’s defense looked iffy against a West Ham attack missing Andy Carroll. I don’t really want to see what happens against United. Manchester Untied 3-0. It will be a good match for Frimpong and Emanuelson to get time on the pitch with the first team though, which could be important going forward.