Town Kick Off 2018 at Fulham Tuesday, 2nd Jan 2018 06:00 Town get 2018 under way when they face Fulham at Craven Cottage this evening looking to avenge the West Londoners’ 2-0 victory at Portman Road earlier in the season. The 12th-placed Cottagers will be looking to complete a second successive double over the Blues, who currently lead them by one place and a goal difference of one. Both sides are six points off the play-offs following New Year’s Day’s games. “They were excellent down here,” manager Mick McCarthy recalled. “But they’ve lost a few games, so we’re not going there worrying about them, we’ll go there and have a go at them." McCarthy was hugely impressed by the Whites at Portman Road, subsequently expressing his surprise that they’re not higher up the table, and rates them very highly. “I think they’re a fantastic team and it’s a really difficult place to go and play,” he added. In addition to the eight midfielders currently out injured, McCarthy lost central defender Adam Webster to an achilles injury during Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Derby. Speaking after the game he wasn’t sure of the seriousness of the former Pompey man’s problem, while Cole Skuse, who has been out with an ankle problem, was the only one of his injured midfielders who he hopes might be fit enough to return at Craven Cottage. Asked if he would have any of them available for the trip following Saturday’s match, he said: “Probably not, Skusey I hope, probably not. Fingers crossed.”
Bartosz Bialkowski will continue in goal with McCarthy likely to stick with Jordan Spence and Jonas Knudsen as the full-backs. With Webster appearing unlikely to be involved, Tommy Smith seems set to make his first start since the Cardiff game on the final day of October, having recovered from the calf problem he suffered while on international duty with New Zealand, alongside skipper Luke Chambers at the heart of the defence. If Skuse is fit he will join Callum Connolly in the deeper-lying midfield roles. If not Kevin Bru is likely keep his place alongside the on-loan Everton man with Adam McDonnell an alternative option. McCarthy may decide to make a change or two in the trio behind lone out-and-out striker Joe Garner. David McGoldrick could come back into the starting line-up for Grant Ward or Bersant Celina, while Freddie Sears could also return to the XI. Ten-goal top scorer Martyn Waghorn again looks set to start in the central position.
Kieffer Moore has been recalled from his loan spell at Rotherham but the 6ft 5in tall frontman appears unlikely to be involved tonight with Millers manager Paul Warne having said he expects the 25-year-old, who scored 13 times while at the New York Stadium in the first half of the campaign, to be sold by the Blues during January. The paperwork relating to striker Aaron Drinan’s move from Waterford is unlikely to be completed in time for the 19-year-old to feature in the squad with international clearance usually taking a number of days to come through when players move from the League of Ireland. The €100,000 (£90,000) switch, which was agreed back in October, could only be formalised once the transfer window opened yesterday. Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic may make changes to his side for the game against the Blues having named the same team for the back-to-back away games at Cardiff - which they won 4-2 - and Hull City where they came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2. Jokanovic made two subs before half-time in that game, Aboubakar Kamara, who scored twice, one from the penalty spot, and Neeskens Kebano. Those two and on-loan Chelsea winger Lucas Piazon, who has made two appearances from the bench having been out since August with a broken leg, could both come into the XI. Historically, the Blues have been victorious on nine occasions in games between the teams (six in the league), Fulham on 11 (10) and with eight (six) games ending in draws. Town have won only once in their last 26 January away games in all competitions, the 3-1 victory over Millwall at the Den in 2015. In August at Portman Road, Kebano and Rui Fonte netted goals either side of half-time to see Fulham to a comfortable 2-0 victory over the Blues, ending Town’s 100 per cent start to their campaign. Kebano nodded home the opener for the dominant Cottagers on 35 and Fonte slammed a rebound into the roof of the net in the 51st minute with the Blues never looking like getting anything out of the game. In April at Craven Cottage, goals from Floyd Ayité, Scott Malone and Stefan Johansen saw Fulham to a 3-1 victory over the Blues, Christophe Berra heading a late consolation for Town. Ayité netted in the 17th minute and Malone doubled the margin on the half hour before Town missed a number of good chances to pull a goal back prior to Johansen sealing it with the home side’s third on 61. That loss was Town’s first at Craven Cottage since Boxing Day 1963 when they were famously thrashed 10-1. Former midfielder Brian Talbot is the assistant director of football at Craven Cottage, where he briefly played late on in his career. Town keeper-coach Malcolm Webster was a Fulham player between 1970 and 1974. Tonight’s referee is Keith Stroud from Hampshire, who has shown 70 yellow cards and five red in 15 games so far this season. Stroud’s most recent Town game was the 2-2 home draw with Sheffield Wednesday in November when he booked Skuse and one Owl. However, he failed to issue a card of either colour for Glenn Loovens’s groin-high horror challenge on McGoldrick. He also refereed the Blues’ 1-1 draw at Leeds in February in which he booked only Knudsen. Prior to that he refereed Town’s 3-2 win at Wigan in December 2016 in which he awarded the Blues a contentious penalty, which was converted by Brett Pitman, and booked the striker, Andre Dozzell, Tom Lawrence and three home players. Before that the veteran official was in charge of the 4-2 victory over Barnsley at Portman Road on the opening day of last season when he also awarded the Blues a penalty which was converted by McGoldrick. He booked Bru, Teddy Bishop and three Tykes. He also took control of the 3-2 home victory over the MK Dons in the final home match of 2015/16, in which he booked Smith and one opposition player and awarded the visitors a spotkick. Stroud also officiated in the 1-1 home draw with Birmingham in September 2015 in which he gave the Blues another penalty, again netted by Pitman, which was bitterly disputed by the visitors when Ainsley Maitland-Niles was felled by Jonathan Spector. He booked Berra, Jonathan Douglas and two visiting players. A former Premier League referee and one-time FIFA assistant, Stroud also refereed the 3-2 defeat at Brighton in January 2015 in which he booked Bru and Noel Hunt and one Seagull. He also took charge of the 1-0 home derby defeat to Norwich at Portman Road in August 2014 and Town’s 1-0 home victory over Birmingham in March of the same year. Squad from: Bialkowski, M Crowe, Spence, Iorfa, Knudsen, Kenlock, Chambers, T Smith, Webber, Skuse, Connolly, Bru, McDonnell, Ward, Celina, McGoldrick, Sears, Garner, Waghorn, Morris.
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