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Fulham v Huddersfield match preview

last updated Friday 03rd November 2000, 7:50 AM

Fulham's influencial midfielder John Collins is set to return to the side on Saturday when Lou Macari's Huddersfield come to town.

Collins was rested on Wednesday but is looking forward to seeing his side return to winning ways. But the former Scottish International has already warned that the team must get back to doing what they do best if they are to send Huddersfield home pointless:

"We must get back to what we do best, passing and keeping the ball. We did well on Wednesday and we need to carry that on into Saturday's game. "It'll be tough, but we want to play in the top flight and to do that we must set ourselves the highest of standards every week"

Midfielder Lee Clark has warned that this weeks opponents must not be underestimated. Clark said: "We can't afford to underestimate Huddersfield even though they are doing so badly this season. "We were the team who stopped them getting into the play-offs at the end of last season and you don't become a bad team overnight. "They have also just appointed a new management team in Lou Macari and Joe Jordan, and that could make things difficult for us. Normally when a team has a new manager they win the next few games and we have to stop them doing that. We have to be totally focussed."

Jean Tigana is expected to make changes to the team that defeated Wolves on Wednesday. Barry Hayles should make a return to the side on Saturday. Kit Symons, who captained Fulham to their Worthington Cup victory over Wolves will be hoping that he’s done enough to keep his place in the side - although Captain Chris Coleman, rested in mid-week, is certain to make his return leaving it is Andy Melville who is possibly looking over his shoulder at his Welsh International colleague. Paul Trollope is a doubtful starter after picking up a head injury when he clashed with Temuri Ketsbaia on Wednesday night.

Terriers new boss Lou Macari travelled down to London on Wednesday to check out Fulham in action against Wolves. And Macari admitted he was more than impressed by the Cottagers performance: “It will be crystal clear to the players what they have to do at Fulham. They have got to put a great deal of effort in against one of the best teams in the league.

Huddersfield midfielder Chris Beech has not ruled out a return to the side for Saturday’s match, the midfielder is attempting to shrug off an ankle problem that has dogged him for the last two weeks. Beech said: “The lads will be travelling today. I haven’t ruled out a return but it’s not looking like that will be possible. I’ll have to see how it goes. If I can jog, run and get through pain free, then it might be a possibility.”

Kenny Irons is struggling with a bug and defender Jamie Vincent is still nowhere near recovering from an ankle injury. Jon Dyson will also miss the match. But Macari did receive some good news from the treatment room on Scott Sellars and Dean Gorre, who are both expected to travel to London. Veteran Sellars suffered a knock in Saturday’s defeat at Blackburn and Gorre reported feeling some stiffness in his left leg.

Macari said: “I would like to be in a position where I can consider between 17 and 20 players every week. But at the moment with the personnel I’ve got missing that isn’t the case and it’s not very good. The midfield is threadbare and the forward line is threadbare but there is no point me worrying about that. That is the situation and I can’t do anything about it in the next 48-hours. We go to Fulham with what we’ve got and I’m quite confident that with any group of players if they work hard enough they can get something.”

Source fulhamfc
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