Newcastle United is next (h)
Newcastle United visits Craven Cottage tonight for the FA Cup fourth round fixture, giving Fulham an instant chance to recover from the heartbreak of losing to Liverpool in the League Cup semi-final.
Marco Silva has maintained that his team has moved past their close loss to the Reds on Wednesday night, despite the possibility that Jurgen Klopp found too much drama in the game. The Portuguese head coach will be eager to defeat the Magpies, who have won all three meetings since Fulham’s return to the premier league, because he is still enraged about how a spot in the semifinals slipped away during a minute of insanity at Old Trafford last year.
After an incredible season the previous year, Newcastle’s hopes of building on that success have somewhat soured over the past month. Eddie Howe’s team has only triumphed twice in their previous nine games. The first came against Fulham at St. James’ Park last month, when Raul Jimenez’s kung-fu kick gave them a numerical advantage halfway through the first half, and the second was the third-round victory in the Tyne-Wear derby at the Stadium of Light, which turned out to be a fairly routine affair. Howe’s team, which has been languishing in the Premier League after being eliminated from Europe’s group stage, may be feeling the heat. If Newcastle loses its next eight FA Cup matches against teams in the top division, they will become the first team to do it in history.
Having not played in two weeks since Oscar Bobb decided a five-goal thriller in Manchester City’s favor, the visitors will be well-rested compared to Fulham. While Sandro Tonali is suspended due to past gambling offenses, Howe is dealing with a serious injury issue that will prevent the Magpies from fielding Callum Wilson, Joelinton, Harvey Barnes, Joe Willock, Nick Pope, Matt Targett, and Elliot Anderson. After a protracted absence from the field, former Norwich City winger Jacob Murphy may return to the team after returning to training.
After this Cup double header, Silva might be inclined to rearrange his lineup with matches against Everton and Burnley coming up quickly. It’s unclear how the demands of a demanding match against Liverpool will have changed the
squad, but there are a few conceivable changes that could occur. Timothy Castagne should be replaced at right back by Kenny Tete, and this seems like a good chance to get healthy again Tim Ream back into the starting lineup. Harrison Reed, who turned 21 this week, can provide some zip to the center of midfield, while Harry Wilson, who gave Liverpool a serious scare in midweek, might prove to be a genuine threat wide on the right.
Andreas Pereira, who struck the woodwork once more on Wednesday night during yet another unhappy evening, has previously hinted to the team’s ambition to organize more memorable evenings at the Cottage, saying earlier this week to the Fulham website:
These kinds of games are our passion, and we find ourselves wanting to play them more and more. I came to this club with the intention of keeping Fulham always pushing the envelope, and that is the goal shared by all present. We definitely want to win that competition since we are aware of the sour feeling it caused last year. We need to look forward to the next game and recover from this one.
MY FULHAM XI (4-2-3-1): Vinicius; Wilson, Willian, Pereira; Palhinha; Tete, A. Robinson, Adarabioyo, Ream; Rodak. The substitutes are Leno, Castagne, Diop, Francois, Cairney, Lukic, Jiminez, Muniz, and De Cordova-Reid.