It has been thirteen years since Fulham and Blackburn met in the Championship, which at the time was called Divison One. During that season Fulham won the divison with Blackburn finishing as runners up. The last time they played at Craven Cottage was 11th September 2011, where it ended 1-1, with goals from Ruben Rochina for Blackburn and Bobby Zamora for Fulham.
Having suffered an absolutely horrendous start to the season, Fulham owner Shahid Khan finally sacked Felix Magath on Thursday afternoon. One point from twenty-one is a shocking return, especially when Fulham invested heavily in Ross McCormack. But too much reliance on Fulham's youth have left them in a perilous state, even though we are only seven games into the season.
Caretaker manager Kit Symons takes charge of Fulham for the first time on Saturday. It is hard to say what side Symons will put out, but it is interesting to note that in Fulham's last game against leaders Nottingham Forest, only one player was aged 20 or under, Konstantinos Stafylidis, and it has to be said that with a more experienced side, Fulham put in a strong performance against Forest, leading 3-2 at one stage, only to end up losing 5-3. In that game, Ross McCormack finally got off the mark in the league, scoring twice, one being an impressive free-kick.
It has been a unremarkable start for Blackburn so far. After starting the season well with four points from their first two games, they only managed six from the next five, leaving them 13th in the table.
After keeping hold of Jordan Rhodes, many people have seen Rovers as being one of the teams that should challenge for the play-offs at least this season, however the start has shown that Blackburn have a long way to go to be realistic challengers.
Blackburn's defence was a problem for them last season, conceding 62 times, and this season the problems have not just continued but have gotten worse. In 7 games, they have conceded 14 goals, with only Huddersfield and the side the face on Saturday, Fulham, having shipped more.
New loan signing Alex Baptiste has not impressed, but it is not really has fault as he is playing at right back when he is a natural centre back. Captain Grant Hanley has hit a bad run of form, who is normally such a consistent performer, and when the best center back at the club is suffering, the whole defence suffers as well. For Blackburn, this needs to be addressed quickly if they want to be considered contenders for promotion.
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Blackburn won the last meeting 3-1 at Ewood Park in the Premier League in January 2012.
- Fulham have won only one of the last five meetings. Their only win since 2009 was 3-2 at Craven Cottage in the Premier League in March 2011.
- Fulham are unbeaten in the last three meetings at Craven Cottage, winning two. Blackburn's last win there was 2-1 in the Premier League in March 2009.
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Fulham have won only one of their eight games this season in all competitions, losing six. Their only win was 1-0 at Brentford in the Capital One Cup on 26 August.
- Fulham have not won any of their three home games this season, drawing one and losing two.
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Blackburn have won three and lost three of their last six games.
- Blackburn have won only one of their three away games this season, losing the other two.ead