Fulham appeared to have turned a corner at the beginning of the January but that mini recovery seems to be nothing more than a false dawn. Two consecutive defeats in their last two games have left them just seven points off the drop zone.
The home side will have to find a way past Villa's defensive rock, Olof Mellberg. The Swedish international features high up in Opta's latest defenders index and is the only outfield player to have played in every single minute of his team's 26 Premiership matches this season.
Mellberg's tally of 244 clearances is the sixth-most in the league this season. Fulham's strike force of Facundo Sava and Steve Marlet will hope to breach his defence and net their first goal between them in 2003.
The Cottagers have lost their last two games on the road, at Manchester City and Arsenal, and need a win to boost the low morale that currently envelopes the club. Their pass completion rate of 71% has been marginally better than Villa's this season and that could be a deciding factor in the outcome of this contest.
The Cottagers' struggle to find any consistency this season has lead to change in personnel and now Jon Harley believes this is his best chance to make his mark at Fulham.
Despite his frustration at the way in which his side conceded a last-minute winner to Robert Pires, Harley is now hopeful of retaining his place in Jean Tigana's side.
He said: "It's up to the manager. If I continue to get a chance, I will just have to do as well as I can and try to keep my place in the team.
Fulham need points and they will need to improve on their performance at Villa Park earlier this season when the Midlands club brushed the Londoners aside, strolling to a convincing 3-1 victory.
Source: planetfootball/4thegame
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Craven Cottage on
Loftus Road
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Premiership 08 Feb 03 |
Fulham |
Villa |
Div
Avg |
| Games Played |
25 |
26 |
26 |
| GOAL ATTEMPTS |
| Goals |
26 |
30 |
33 |
| Ave Goals Per Game |
1.04 |
1.15 |
1.27 |
| Shots (excluding blocked shots) |
276 |
329 |
284 |
| Ave Shots Per Game |
11 |
13 |
11 |
| Ave Shots on Target Per Game |
5 |
5 |
5 |
| % Shots On Target |
43% |
43% |
43% |
| % Goals To Shots |
9% |
9% |
12% |
| PASSING |
| Short Passes |
6840 |
6255 |
6617 |
| Long Passes |
3097 |
2853 |
3090 |
| Total Passes |
9937 |
9108 |
9707 |
| Ave Passes Per Game |
397 |
350 |
373 |
| % Overall Passes Completed |
71% |
70% |
72% |
Ave passes completed
per game
|
282 |
245 |
269 |
| CROSSING |
| Total Crosses |
538 |
770 |
598 |
| Ave Crosses Per Game |
22 |
30 |
23 |
| Crosses Completed |
27% |
28% |
25% |
Ave cross completion
per game
|
6 |
8 |
6 |
| DEFENDING |
| Goals Conceded |
33 |
27 |
33 |
| Ave Goals Conceded Per Game |
1.32 |
1.04 |
1.28 |
| Tackles |
821 |
597 |
725 |
| Ave Tackles Per Game |
33 |
23 |
28 |
| Tackles Won % |
73% |
74% |
72% |
Ave tackles completed
per game
|
33 |
23 |
28 |
| Blocks, Clearances & Interceptions |
1051 |
1103 |
1168 |
| Ave Blocks, etc., Per Game |
42 |
42 |
45 |
| DISCIPLINE |
| Fouls |
363 |
382 |
358 |
| Ave Fouls Per Game |
15 |
15 |
14 |
| Yellow Cards |
40 |
49 |
41 |
| Fouls per yellow |
9 |
8 |
9 |
| Red Cards |
5 |
2 |
2 |
| stats from opta |
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|
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Cipher's stats extract shows that although Villa have been creating more chances than Fulham their final ball has been off target more often than not. Their striker Dublin has been having a revival in front of goal matching Fulham's midfielder Steed Malbranque goal scoring feats.
In the middle of the park Fulham should dominate with a higher pass rate and fractionally more accuracy. The Villians seem to enjoy crossing the ball into the goal area making 30% more trys than The Cottagers
Tackling is another aspect Fulham should dominate making nearly 50% more tackles than Villa. In relation to blocking, etc., the two squads are virtually even.
So it is not unfair to say that Villa like to pepper the oppositions penalty area with crosses vacate the midfield and desperately defend at their end.
If Fulham can keep scoring as recently a win is on the cards |
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Matchday Referee
Steve Dunn - Bristol, Avon
Steve Dunn has now turned full-time professional referee after previously listing his occupation as 'self-employed retailer'. The West Country boy began refereeing in his spare time for the Bristol, Country and Western leagues in 1978.
After joining the Football league's list of referees in 1992, Dunn progressed quickly, gaining promotion to the Premier League in 1995 and FIFA in 1996.
Ref Dunn has not been a regular for Fulham with just two games in 3 years. His last official contact was at the Everton game at the start of the season which was a fairly tough encounter
2002/2003
English Premier Everton 2-0 Fulham 28-09-2002 4 0
Bookings: Unsworth (Everton) Hayles , Melville , Wome (Fulham)
2001/2002
English FA Cup Walsall 1-2 Fulham 16-02-2002 4 0
Bookings: Byfield , Carbon , Matias (Walsall) Brevett (Fulham)
2002/
2003
stats
|
Mr. Dunn's score sheet |
Average Premiership Referee score sheet |
|
Total |
Match
Avg |
Total |
Match
Avg |
| Games |
13 |
|
11 |
|
| Fouls |
319 |
24.54 |
300 |
27.90 |
| Penalties |
2 |
0.15 |
3 |
0.23 |
| Yellows |
46 |
3.54 |
34 |
3.18 |
| Reds |
1 |
0.08 |
2 |
0.19 |
| Fouls per Yellow |
6.9 |
|
8.8 |
|
Ref Dunn is whistling less this season, about 3 times less a game. However he is more than making up for that change with a 20% increase in yellow cards. That increase puts Ref Dunn in the top 7 penalisers in the Premiership
Steve Staunton(D), Gareth Barry(M) annnd Lee Hendrie(M) all have 7 yellow cards while Dion Dublin(A) has 5 and Ian Taylor is on 4 yellows. |
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Villa travel to the capital with the knowledge that anything but a victory will condemn them to mid-table obscurity while Fulham are still in great danger of getting dragged into a tough relegation battle.
The Villans have moved up the table in recent weeks thanks to convincing wins against Middlesbrough and Blackburn and are currently eight points clear of the Cottagers in the Premiership table.
This weekend marks the first anniversary of Graham Taylor's second reign as Villa boss, and the ex-England manager would love to mark it with only his third away win in the Premiership.
Opta's stats would suggest they have the firepower to do it, as no team has attempted more shots than Villa's 329 this season.
Olof Mellberg reckons Aston Villa have 'turned the corner' in their season, and their form over recent weeks has kept alive a slim chance of sneaking a European place.
Mellberg has been in outstanding form for Villa this season despite their inconsistency. He has been troubled by an Achilles problem in recent months, but that has not affected his form. Mellberg, who has been voted the PFA `Fans Player of the Month' for January, said: "I'm pleased with the way things are going.
"I feel physically fine now, I just wanted to play a part in helping Villa get even further up the table in the final part of the season. We were all disappointed when we went out of the FA Cup to Blackburn, but since then we've put things together really well.
"You can see, not only with our results, but in the way we have been playing, that we have really improved of late."
The Claret and Blues' recovery has down to their ability to finally find the net on a regular basis and veteran striker Dion Dublin has been largely responsible for this. The former Manchester United man has now set his sights on surpassing his previous best tally of 21 goals in a season.
Dublin is in a rich vein of form and his brace against Blackburn on Sunday took his goal tally to eight in the last 10 matches.
It is in stark contrast to his fortunes at the start of the season when he found himself fifth-choice striker after returning from a loan spell at Millwall.
Source: planetfootball/4thegame
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| MATCH BETTING ODDS |
The Villans have had no trouble finding the net of late, bagging eight goals in the last two premiership outings. Cynics may suggest that this can be attributed to the fact that they have come up against two rather depleted defences in the shape of Boro without the Southgate-Ehiogu partnership and the rocky back line of Blackburn. The former of those two wins (5-2) at the Riverside is Villa`s only away win all season.
Like Taylor`s, Tigana`s men have managed just a solitary away win all season but have fared better on home soil. The Cottagers can take heart from the fact that they have racked upthree wins from the last three home ties and this game sees the start of a run of three home games on the trot including an FA cup tie against Burnley.
The corresponding fixture last season failed to produce a single goal but it`s difficult to see Aston Villa failing to score with goals coming from all over the place for them at the moment. Dion Dublin has nine in twelve now. For Fulham, Steed Malbranque has hit a purple patch of his own, bagging five in three. So with Villa`s apparent upturn in form and Fulham unfortunate to go down to a late goal at Highbury this game may be tight.
Source: Readabet
Best High Street price for a Fulham win is 13/10 with Hills and Stanley while 6/4 is available at the Betfair exchange.
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