Match Preview
Fulham v Leeds United
Premier League Match Day 04 25/26 at Craven Cottage
Saturday 13th September 2025 KO: 15:00
Referee:
Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire)
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Fulham play host to newly-promoted Leeds United at Craven Cottage on Saturday afternoon still searching for their first Premier League win of the new season.
The two teams butt heads for the first time since April 2023 when the Cottagers secured a 2-1 home victory in the top flight.
Fulham headed into the international break frustrated and disappointed after they were beaten 2-0 by West London rivals Chelsea in a Premier League contest mired in VAR controversy at Stamford Bridge.
Teenage starlet Joshua King had a fairytale first senior goal chalked off following a VAR review after Rodrigo Muniz was penalised for a “careless challenge” in the build-up, before Ryan Sessegnon was judged to have handled the ball in the penalty area, allowing Enzo Fernandez to double Chelsea’s advantage after Joao Pedro had headed home the opener.
Marco Silva fumed at referee Robert Jones and slammed the ‘unbelievable’ VAR decisions against his Fulham side, who have now conceded a penalty in each of their last five Premier League games - the joint-longest run by any team along with Wimbledon (August 1999) and Norwich City (August/September 2011). No side has ever given away a penalty in six consecutive PL matches.
Fulham are one of only four Premier League teams who are yet to win this term having accumulated just two points across their opening three fixtures. The Cottagers are now in danger of failing to win any of their opening four games of a top-flight campaign for just the fourth time in their history after 1951-52 (seven), 2011-12 and 2020-21 (both six).
Silva’s side have also gone 12 Premier League games without keeping a clean sheet and have kept only five across their last 43 league fixtures; only West Ham United (22) have registered fewer top-flight clean sheets than Fulham since 2022-23. However, the Cottagers have won their last three meetings with Leeds which bodes well ahead of Saturday’s contest.
Leeds began life back in the big time with a narrow 1-0 win over Everton in front of a rocking Elland Road crowd, but last season’s Championship title winners have since failed to win any of their last three matches in all competitions.
A heavy 5-0 defeat at Arsenal was followed by a disappointing penalty-shootout loss to Sheffield Wednesday in the EFL Cup second round, before the Whites registered just one shot on target in a goalless statement at home to Newcastle in their most recent Premier League fixture prior to the international break.
Nevertheless, head coach Daniel Farke has taken positives from how his side have collected four points from their opening three Premier League games and have kept two clean sheets in the process. The German has stressed the importance of “rock-solid defending” for any newly-promoted club in their quest to avoid the drop.
Leeds will also need to address their poor from in London, as they travel to Craven Cottage this weekend having lost each of their last eight away Premier League games in the capital, conceding 26 goals in the process. The Whites last endured a longer top-flight losing streak in London between 1925 and 1930 (12 in a row).
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Fulham have lost just one of their five home Premier League matches against Leeds United (W3 D1), going down 2-1 in 2020-21 under Scott Parker.
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The last four Premier League meetings between Fulham and Leeds have produced 18 goals (4.5 per game), with both sides finding the net in each match. Leeds won both games in 2020-21, while Fulham completed a double in 2022-23.
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Fulham have failed to win each of their last four Premier League games (D2 L2), last going longer without victory in April 2023 (5). The Cottagers could fail to win any of their opening four games of a top-flight campaign for just the fourth time, after 1951-52 (7), 2011-12 (6), and 2020-21 (6).
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Fulham have conceded a penalty in each of their last five Premier League matches, the joint longest run by any side along with Wimbledon (August 1999) and Norwich City (August/September 2011). No side has given away a penalty in six games in a row.
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Fulham have gone 12 Premier League matches without a clean sheet and have kept only five in their last 43 matches. Since 2022-23, the only ever-present side with fewer clean sheets than the Cottagers (24) is West Ham (22).
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Fulham have conceded 44 fouls in the Premier League this season, with only Brighton giving away more (47). Sasa Lukic leads the charts for fouls among players with 12, while since the start of last season no player has more yellow cards than Lukic (14, level with Will Hughes).
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Leeds have lost their last eight away Premier League matches in London, conceding 26 goals in these defeats, with their last win coming on the final day of 2021-22 at Brentford. They last had a longer top-flight losing run in the capital between 1925 and 1930 (12 in a row).
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Among the 18 teams to have fallen behind in a Premier League game this season, Leeds are the only side not to register a shot when losing, failing in 66 minutes of their defeat to Arsenal on MD2. However, Leeds have had more shots when they’ve been drawing this season than anyone else (31).
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Only Man Utd’s Bruno Fernandes (12) has created more chances in the Premier League this season than new Leeds midfielder Anton Stach (10). It's the most by a player in the opening three games of a season for a newly promoted side since Emiliano Buendía in 2019-20 for Daniel Farke's Norwich City.
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Despite playing only 52 minutes in all competitions so far for Leeds, Dominic Calvert-Lewin has registered the most expected goals (1.51) of any Whites player in 2025-26, though he’s yet to score. Since the 2022-23 campaign, Calvert-Lewin has underperformed his xG in the Premier League by the most of any player (minus 13.7 – 12 goals from 25.7 xG).
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Source Oliver Thomas at SportsMole/BBCSports