Fulham v West Brom: Entertainment expected at The Cottage

Fulham impress at the City Ground

Fulham ran out 4-0 winners last weekend against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground to cement their position in second in the Championship. An own goal by Djed Spence gave the Cottagers a half-time lead before the Whites ran away with the game in the second-half by scoring three more goals in a nine-minute spell around the hour mark.

Aleksandar Mitrovic grabbed his 14th and 15th league goals of the season, the second from the penalty spot after a foul on Denis Odoi, either side of a strike by Neeskens Kebano. It was a clinical display from the capital club - Fulham scored with all three of their on-target attempts - and head coach Marco Silva was pleased with his team's display.

Speaking post-match, Silva said: ""It was a tough game like we expected, even if you score early in the game like we did, we came here to play against a team in a great moment the last six games. But if you create, he's (Mitrovic) a very dangerous player, it's up to us to create the conditions for him to score. Everyone is working really hard for him."

West Brom swat Robins aside

West Brom boss Valerien Ismael was full of praise for his players after Albion secured a convincing 3-0 win over Bristol City last Saturday. The Baggies were in control from the first whistle to the last with Jordan Hugill scoring his first goal for the club since signing on-loan from Norwich and centre-half Kyle Bartley also on target in a dominant first-half display.

After the break, Karlan Grant netted his sixth goal in as many games to secure a comfortable win from Ismael's men. But while the boss was pleased with his team's display, he felt the margin of victory should have been greater with WBA firing in 23 efforts at goal with Hugill missing three other opportunities, while Robert Snodgrass hit the woodwork.

"It was a great game and we played some great stuff at times. We should have scored more goals. Again we made too many mistakes and we need to improve that But three goals, a clean sheet and great stuff we played at times -- I am delighted."

Albion headed into the game without the suspended Jake Livermore and the injured Alex Mowatt. That meant Jayson Molumby and Robert Snodgrass formed a new-look central midfield partnership in Ismael's 3-4-3 formation with both players impressing enough to give the Baggies boss food for thought ahead of this weekend's fixture.

Cottagers favoured by the market

Fulham come into Saturday's showdown unbeaten in 11 league meetings with West Brom, although seven of those head-to-head contests have ended all-square (W4-D7-L0). The Whites also boast a 14-game unbeaten league sequence when welcoming the Baggies to Craven Cottage (W8-D6-L0), a run of results that stretches way back to 1980.

Fulham 2.1411/10 arrive having churned out three successive Championship victories since October's international break, scoring 10 goals and generating 6.08 Expected Goals (xG). Marco Silva's men are top of the Expected Points (xP) rankings after 14 rounds of action, and also lead the way in the non-penalty Expected Goals (npxG) ratio ratings.

West Brom 3.5551/20 continue in pursuit of Bournemouth and Fulham, although the Baggies' road form has undoubtedly stalled progress. Albion have W3-D2-L2 on their travels, losing back-to-back away games, whilst two of their three triumphs came at bottom-six sides. Even so, the guests are clearly capable and will expect to be competitive in the capital.

Both sides to oblige

Fulham's fixtures have featured the highest goals per-game figure in the Championship thus far, with 3.36 on average. Six (43%) of the Cottagers' 14 outings have produced Over 3.5 Goals, whilst nine (64%) matches have already paid out for Both Teams To Score 1.748/11 backers. The hosts have only kept four clean sheets under Marco Silva's watch.

West Brom have only twice failed to notch under Valerien Ismael with seven of their eight encounters against teams outside of the bottom-eight paying out for Both Teams To Score hunters. Considering we have the two leaders in terms of xG and npxG on-show at Craven Cottage, supporting both sides getting on the scoresheet seems a sensible solution.