Match Preview
Fulham vrs Wolverhampton Wanderers
Premier League Match Day 19 at Craven Cottage
Wednesday 26th December 2018 KO: 12:30
Referee:
Andre Marriner (West Midlands)
Live on Sky
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Fulham will be looking to end a five-match winless run and move off the bottom of the Premier League when they host Wolves on Boxing Day, live on Sky Sports.
The Cottagers have not tasted victory since Claudio Ranieri's first game in charge, a 3-2 win over Southampton on November 24.
They did manage to keep their first clean sheet of the season in a 0-0 draw with Newcastle on Saturday, and Ranieri hopes they can build on that.
"The atmosphere is always positive and today it is more positive," he said.
"Now our minds are on Wolverhampton. [Nuno] Espirito Santo is doing a good job, I watch their match against Liverpool. Wolverhampton played a fantastically.
They create two or three great chances in the first half and Liverpool at the end won the match. It will be another tough match for us."
Fulham manager Claudio Ranieri: "Nuno Espirito Santo is doing a very good job. I watched the match against Liverpool, and Wolverhampton played fantastically.
"They created two or three great chances in the first half. It will be another tough match for us."
Wolves saw their three-match winning run ended with a 2-0 home defeat to Premier League leaders Liverpool on Friday.
Wolverhampton manager Nuno Espirito Santo:
“From our point of view it will be the same, the approach will be exactly the same, so the game will tell us whether it will be harder or not.
“For sure, it’s going to be tough, because Fulham, we played them last season, they are the situations that they have, as the season goes by all the teams start fighting for their lives, so that changes the reality of the games. But it’s going to be tough, very tough.”
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Fulham ended a nine-match winless streak in this fixture by beating Wolves 2-0 at home when the sides last met in February.
- This is their first Premier League meeting since March 2012, when Fulham recorded a 5-0 home win.
- Wolves have never won in four previous Premier League trips to Craven Cottage, losing twice.
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Fulham have claimed five points from six games since Claudio Ranieri was appointed manager.
- The Whites kept their first clean sheet of the season at Newcastle last Saturday - it was their first in 21 Premier League matches.
- They have failed to score in six of their last nine league games.
- Ranieri has never won a Premier League Boxing Day fixture in six previous attempts, losing four of them.
- Only three sides in Premier League history have avoided relegation having been bottom of the table at Christmas: Leicester in 2014, Sunderland in 2013 and West Brom in 2004.
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Wolves have won three and lost three of their last six league fixtures.
- They have kept one clean sheet in 10 matches, having begun the season with four in their opening eight games.
- Nuno Espirito Santo's side have lost all three of their Premier League games played on Boxing Day.
- This will be Wolves' 100th league game played on Boxing Day, making them just the second side to play as many on the date, after neighbours West Bromwich Albion.
- Wolves have 25 points after 18 games, which is as many as they accrued in total in their last Premier League season in 2011-12.