English Premier League – Match Preview: Fulham versus Everton
Fulham and Everton take on each other for their sixth English Premier League match of the season at Craven Cottage. Both the teams have had languid starts to the season, while performing well against the likes of Manchester United, they frequently dropped
points in other games.
For Fulham, their new manager, Mark Hughes, continued the good work and has built on foundations that were laid by Roy Hodgson.
Roy departed from Fulham to join Liverpool in the summer. After a long summer of searching for a Manager, Fulham made their choice when they appointed the former Manchester City manager, Mark Hughes as their club’s manager. It was a good appointment in all
respects because Hughes is an emerging manager in English football, who had a forgettable stint at Manchester City.
Fulham are a club, who are looking to break into the top ten teams of the Premier League in England. Currently, Fulham are 7th in the English league table with seven points from five games and a goal difference of positive one.
Fulham’s first match of the season saw them facing Bolton Wanderer’s away from home at the Reebok Stadium, it was a tough test for Mark’s new side, who held their own but failed to get all three points against Owen Coyle’s men as the match ended in an uneventful
goalless draw.
Their second match was a much more interesting encounter as they took on the 2009-2010 Premier League runners up, Manchester United at Craven Cottage. Everyone expected Fulham to lose the match against Sir Alex Ferguson’s team, but in the end, courtesy of
a late goal by Hangeland, Fulham successfully drew the match two all.
In their third match of the league season, Fulham travelled to Blackpool to face the Seasiders but again it was a disappointing match for the Cottagers, whose porous defence was woeful, allowing Blackpool to score twice. However, Fulham’s attack was effective
enough to earn another draw for Mark Hughes.
Fulham’s first win came in their fourth match as Fulham inflicted two goals to one defeat on Wolverhampton Wanderers. In their latest English Premier League match, Blackburn held Fulham to a goalless draw at Ewood Park. It was Fulham’s fourth draw in their
opening five matches of the English Premier League.
On the other hand, Everton have been completely horrendous in their start to the English Premier League season. So terrible that even after the first five games, the Toffee’s have yet to get their first win of the season.
After suffering a defeat in their first match of the season to Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn Rovers at the Ewood Park, Everton took on Wolverhampton Wanderers in their second league match.
Against Wolves, Everton failed to capitalize on their dominance in the match and therefore ended with only a single point from the encounter as the match ended at one all.
In their third match in the English Premier League season, Everton suffered a loss at Villa Park against Aston Villa and then remarkably held Manchester United to a three all draw at Goodison Park due to Cahill and Arteta’s two late goals.
In their last match in the English Premier League, Everton lost to Newcastle United at home. The only goal of the match was scored by Newcastle’s debutant, Ben Arfa. It was a brilliant strike from the Frenchman, who joined Newcastle on loan in the summer
transfer window of 2010. In last season’s corresponding fixture at Craven Cottage, Fulham ended up as eventual winners as they scored two goals whilst only conceding a single in reply.
Out of their last eight meetings with Fulham, Everton have won five matches whereas Fulham have won three. Fulham’s last win over Everton came in September of 2009.
As the match is scheduled to take place at Fulham’s home stadium, they are favourites to at least get a draw in this one. Injuries to both Dembele and Zamora mean that the Cottagers are short on fire power, something that can work against them if Everton
come with a proper game plan to Craven Cottage.
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