English Premier
2018-12-26 - Fulham vs Wolves
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Wednesday 26th December 2018 - Kick Off 12:30pm
This game is live on TV
Fulham
Being bottom of the Premier League on Christmas morning has proven to be a death knell for many clubs over the last twenty-six years, but Claudio Ranieri is used to upsetting the odds with 'unfashionable' clubs. The Italian has only recently come in as Fulham manager so it is still a learning curve for the players to understand his methods, while January is going to be a big month for a club that have already invested heavily in the playing staff.
The point earned at Newcastle United on Saturday means Fulham are now bottom of the Premier League on goal difference, while they have seen the gap increased to 17th place to 4 points. The side have to start performing better at Craven Cottage where they have a 2-2-4 record in the Premier League having scored 10 goals and conceded 18.
Fulham beat Southampton in Claudio Ranieri's first game in charge, but they have not won any of 5 League games since then and have lost 3 of those. It is credit to the manager that Fulham earned 4 points from a possible 6 in his first couple of games in charge at Craven Cottage, but Ranieri saw Fulham comfortably beaten 0-2 by Wolves in their last game here.
Ryan Sessegnon is hoping to recover from a knock and take his place in the squad for this fixture.
Wolves
The fans would have recognised the effort that their Wolves team put in against Premier League leaders Liverpool, but Nuno Espirito Santo was disappointed with the lack of composure shown in the final third. Better composure would have surely seen Wolves push yet another of the top six clubs they have faced and the manager will be looking for a big reaction on Boxing Day in the first of the televised fixtures.
That defeat on Friday night coupled with results over the next couple of days meant Wolves are now 10th in the Premier League table, although ambitions will see them looking higher up the Division. They bring in a respectable enough 3-2-3 away record during which time they have scored 7 goals and conceded 8.
Wolves had turned a corner with their form as they had won 3 straight games in the Premier League before the 0-2 defeat to Liverpool. They had snapped a run of 3 games without a victory away from home by scoring a very late goal to edge out Newcastle United a couple of weeks ago.
Diogo Jota looks to be the only absentee in the squad.
Head to Head
Both Wolves and Fulham beat each other 2-0 at home last season in the Championship as they earned promotion to the Premier League.
Fulham had not won any of 4 home games against Wolves prior to last season and they had lost 3 of those games.
Prediction
The first of the Boxing Day Premier League fixtures comes from Craven Cottage where the television cameras will be looking to see if Fulham can produce a result that can take them off the bottom of the Premier League table.
Claudio Ranieri has not made the impact as Fulham manager as he would have liked and this is a squad that has been lacking confidence which has to concern the Italian. Even now they don't always look convincing and I think that is going to be a problem for them to address in the weeks ahead as Ranieri's methods begin to take hold at the club.
This is a game that will have been targeted by Fulham as one they can win, but the problem they have had is finding the balance between attack and defence. At home the onus is on them to come forward and I think that plays into the hands of a Wolves team who can be very dangerous on the counter attack.
I do think Wolves are lacking one more quality attacking forward to complement Raul Jimenez, but they are a team that creates chances and will be dangerous whenever they get their foot on the ball.
One concern is that Wolves have been a streaky kind of team and the loss to Liverpool has ended a run of 3 straight Premier League wins. They have also lost at Brighton and Cardiff City in the Premier League which may give Fulham confidence to believe they can do the same especially as they beat Wolves at Craven Cottage last season.
However I do think Wolves are the better team and they can bounce back from the setback against Liverpool. If they continue playing the way they have, I would expect Wolves to have the majority of chances in this fixture and I like them working their way to a narrow win.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Fulham 1-2 Wolves
