Match Preview
Swansea City vrs Fulham
Championship Match Day 19 1920 at Liberty Stadium
Friday 29th November 2019 KO: 19:45
Referee:
Simon Hooper (Wiltshire)
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Fulham face Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium on Friday night for a clash between two Championship sides pushing for promotion.
The visitors, relegated from the Premier League last season, find themselves in third place, with Swansea sitting just two points behind in fifth.
Swansea head into this game knowing that they must offer more bite in the final third compared with their last home game - a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Millwall, during which the Welsh side never really entered top gear.
Indeed, Steve Cooper, appointed over the summer, will be aware of the fact that Swansea have dropped off slightly since making a very strong start to the 2019-20 campaign.
Having won seven of their first eight games across all competitions, the next eight fixtures for the Swans merited just one victory.
However, the fact that Swansea followed up this poor run with a convincing 1-0 success over local rivals Cardiff City, at a time when they were moving away from the playoff spots, demonstrates that there is a sense of character in this team.
They will need to summon the same spirit and discipline on Friday as they look to bounce back against a strong Fulham side at the Liberty Stadium.
While Swansea are looking to provide a response to recent lowly performances, Scott Parker's Fulham side will know that they must maintain their recent standards when they travel to Wales.
Tuesday's 3-0 victory over Derby County saw the Cottagers play with an impressive level of zip and intent going forward, with main striker and talisman Aleksandar Mitrovic netting his 13th Championship goal of the season.
That result took Fulham, now with three wins on the bounce, to within sniffing distance of the automatic spots, adding to the feeling that, following a mixed start, this team is going somewhere under Parker this term.
Indeed, the 39-year-old forms part of a wider growing network of relatively young former players - Frank Lampard, Pep Guardiola, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer are all examples - whose main focus is to build a strong platform for long-term success.
Victory at the Liberty, where Swansea have only won one of their last four outings, would only add to the feel-good factor that Parker has brought back to Craven Cottage.
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Swansea have won five of their past six league encounters with Fulham (L1), with this their first clash since January 2014 in the Premier League (2-0 win).
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Fulham have won just two of their past 10 away league visits to Swansea (D3 L5), although those two wins have both arrived in their past four trips.
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Fulham will be looking to win four consecutive league games for the first time since April 2018.
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Championship leading scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic has scored 13 goals for Fulham this season, at least seven more than any other player for the Cottagers.
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Of the 12 away games Fulham has lost, they conceded first 10 times.
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Fulham has lost 60% of their last 20 away league games.
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Having gone 14 games unbeaten at the Liberty Stadium between December 2018 and August 2019, Swansea have won just one of their six home Championship games since (D1 L4).
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No Championship side has scored more 90th-minute goals than Swansea this season (3), however each of those has come away from home.
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Of the 11 league games Swansea has won at home, they scored first 8 times.
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Swansea has won 55% of their last 20 home league games