0 users online

Match Preview - Fulham v Derby County 12.02.05

last updated Friday 11th February 2005, 12:03 PM
Fulham boss Chris Coleman Fulham boss Chris Coleman has told his players they will be susceptible to an FA Cup shock unless they raise their game for the replay against Derby.

The teams drew 1-1 on January 29 and must do it all again at Craven Cottage on Saturday, with the prize for the winners a fifth-round trip to Bolton.

Coleman was happy enough with the performance at Derby, but he was far from pleased with Fulham's display at Anfield last Saturday, where Liverpool ended the Cottagers' eight-game unbeaten run.

"We did well to come away with a draw at Derby, especially considering we had players missing, but we have to defend better on Saturday than we did at Liverpool last weekend," said Coleman.

"We didn't get nearly the amount of pressure I expected from a side with very good players, but we knocked off three times to leave players unmarked in the box and you can't do that at this level."

  • FULHAM and Derby have the prospect of a trip to Premiership form side Bolton in the last 16 if they can win here. Both goals in the initial tie came from substitutes. The Cottagers had Collins John to thank for sparing their blushes when he equalised a minute after coming on, and 19 minutes from time. Marcus Tudgay had given Derby the lead a quarter of an hour earlier.
  • The Thames-side club have failed to reach the fifth round only once in the last six attempts. That was in the 2000/01 season when they met Manchester United in the third round - the same club that ended their run last season, when they reached the quarter-finals.
  • Chris Coleman's side go into this tie on the back of last weekend's 3-1 loss to Liverpool at Anfield, which ended their eight-match undefeated run in League and Cup. They were last dismissed by lower ranked opposition two years ago. Then Nationwide First Division Burnley defeated them 3-0 in a fifth round replay at Turf Moor on 26 February 2003.

Stats
Latest League Table
Latest Form Table
Latest Squad Stats
Latest Disciplinary Stats
Craven Cottage - Fulham
FA Cup 12 Feb 2005
Fulham Derby
Games Played 26 32
HOME
Games Won 5 6
Games Drawn 2 4
Games Lost 6 6
Goals Scored 16 25
Avg goals scored per game 1.2 1.6
Goals Conceded 21 24
Avg goals conceded per game 1.6

1.5

AWAY
Games Won 3 9
Games Drawn 3 2
Games Lost 7 5
Goals Scored 17 21
Avg goals scored per game 1.3 1.3
Goals Conceded 23 16
Avg goals conceded per game 1.8 1.0
DISCIPLINE
Yellow Cards 42 42
Red Cards 4 3

Derby boss Derby manager George Burley is preparing for a tough challenge on his visit to Craven Cottage on Saturday

"It is good still to be in the Cup - although with all our absentees, we are flat to the boards squad-wise.

"I thought it was a good game at home against Fulham. We scored a good goal but all credit to Fulham, they battled back.

"They have a good squad of players and we know we will have to be at our best at Craven Cottage."

  • DERBY COUNTY recorded their first victory in four years in the FA Cup when they dismissed Wigan in the third round. Now they're looking for two wins in two rounds, and targeting a place in the last 16 for the first time since 1998/99 when they went on to reach the quarter-finals, and lost 1-0 to Arsenal at Highbury - the most recent occasion County faced Premiership opposition in the competition.
  • The Rams are in red hot form at present. They narrowly escaped relegation last season, and despite having to part with the big earners, manager George Burley has guided the side into the Championship's Play Off places - 10 rungs below Fulham in the pecking order, with three successive victories in the League, eight wins in 12 League and Cup games, and just one defeat in seven games since the first week of the year.
  • Derby were in the Premiership themselves when they last knocked out a top flight side - that was Southampton, 2-0 in a home third round encounter on 3 January 1998. Norwich were the last top flight club the Rams dismissed when they were a lower division outfit. County were in the Second Division at the time of their 2-1 home fifth round victory over the Canaries on 18 February 1984.
Source BBC & SportingLife
Since 1998
"It's been updated!"