Match Preview
Fulham vrs Leicester City
Premier League Match Day 15 at Craven Cottage
Wednesday 5th December 2018 KO: 19:45
Referee:
David Coote (Nottinghamshire)
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Fulham manger Claudio Ranieri faces another of his old clubs on Wednesday night when Leicester City visit Craven Cottage in the Premier League.
The Italian manager has fond memories of his time at Leicester where he of course won the Premier League title in unlikely fashion in the 2015/16 season before being sacked the next season.
It's the second of his old clubs he's faced during his time as Fulham boss after heading back to Stamford Bridge on Sunday to face Chelsea, where he lost for the first time as the side's new manager.
Fulham will be hoping to bounce back from that defeat and get another victory under their belt on Wednesday night as they continue to look for Premier League survival, but the club remain bottom of the Premier League after the weekend's results.
Leicester Manager Claude Puel says he has "a lot of respect" for the Italian.
"A lot of people in the club have a lot of respect for him, for what he won, for what he gave for the club. It was fantastic.
"But we are professional, we have professional staff and the most important thing is we will want to perform against his team."
Leicester could be without striker Jamie Vardy when they travel to Fulham in the Premier League on Wednesday.
Vardy scored a penalty in Leicester's 2-0 win over Watford at the weekend but has a groin problem which may require surgery.
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his will be the first league game between Fulham and Leicester since the 2003-04 Premier League campaign, when Fulham won both meetings 2-0.
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Leicester City haven't won away at Fulham in any competition since a second-tier game in April 1983, drawing one and losing three of their visits since.
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Leicester City won the last meeting of any kind against Fulham, beating them 4-3 at the King Power Stadium in a League Cup match in October 2013.
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- Fulham are looking to secure consecutive home wins in the Premier League for the first time since April 2013.
- They are in danger of losing more than 10 of their opening 15 league matches in a season for the first time.
- The Cottagers could equal the club top-flight record of 19 fixtures in a row without a clean sheet, set from September to December 1950.
- Their tally of 35 goals conceded equals the club's worst defensive record after 14 games of a top-flight season, set in 1959-60.
- Only Barnsley, with 40 goals, and Sheffield Wednesday and Bolton, with 36, have conceded more often after 15 Premier League matches.
- Fulham have conceded at least two goals in 12 of their 14 league games.
- Claudio Ranieri will face Leicester City for the first time since he was sacked in February 2017, nine months after leading the club to an historic Premier League title.
- The Italian has won four of his five Premier League fixtures as a manager against Leicester, with the exception a 2-1 defeat at Filbert Street in February 2001.
- Aleksandr Mitrovic has scored five goals in his last five Premier League home games.
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Leicester's current five-match unbeaten run equals their longest since ending the title-winning 2015-16 season with a 12-match streak under Claudio Ranieri.
- However, they have only won two of their past seven league games (D3, L2).
- The Foxes have conceded only one goal in their last four Premier League matches, scored by Brighton's Glenn Murray in a 1-1 draw on 24 November.
- Claude Puel's side are unbeaten in all nine league matches this season against teams below them prior to the midweek fixtures (W6, D3).
- Jamie Vardy could become only the sixth player to score a penalty in three consecutive Premier League appearances.