Fulham will hope they can keep control of the Championship promotion race when they host Blackburn Rovers on Saturday at 12:30pm (UK time).
The Cottagers are currently nine points clear at the top of the table but have played two games more than second-placed Bournemouth. Blackburn are also chasing promotion, sitting fourth with 16 wins from their 34 games so far this season.
Fulham vs Blackburn betting tips from Squawka Bet
- 2+ corners each team in each half @ 11/2 with Sky Bet
- Aleksandar Mitrovic to score anytime @ 5/6 with Paddy Power
18+ only. Please gamble responsibly. For more information, visit gambleaware.org. All odds and offers in this article are valid at time of publication.
Fulham team news vs Blackburn: No fresh injuries for Marco Silva
- Ins: None
- Outs: Terence Kongolo
- Doubts: Tom Cairney
Fulham will be hoping Tom Cairney is available to face Blackburn on Saturday having missed the past two matches due to illness. The Cottagers captain only started his season in October after a knee injury, playing 19 games across all competitions and has been a big miss at times on the pitch. Terence Kongolo is also unlikely to play, yet to feature for Fulham this season following injury and a failed move in the January transfer window.
Predicted Fulham XI vs Blackburn:
- Rodak; Williams, Adarabioyo, Ream, Bryan; Reed, Chalobah; Wilson, Carvalho, Reid; Mitrovic. (4-2-3-1)
Blackburn team news vs Fulham: Ryan Nyambe expected to miss out with knee injury
- Ins: None
- Outs: Ben Brereton Diaz, Tayo Edun, Ian Poveda-Ocampo, Ryan Nyambe, Joe Rothwell
- Doubts: None
Blackburn remain without star man Ben Brereton Diaz, a big blow for their promotion hopes. The Chilean striker suffered an ankle injury in Blackburn’s goalless draw with West Brom and isn’t expected to return until after the March international break.
Tayo Edun, Joe Rothwell and Ian Poveda-Ocampo are also still out, though the latter is hopeful of returning from injury soon. And they have been joined on the sidelines by Ryan Nyambe, who had to come off in the win over QPR with a knee injury, and Tony Mowbray predicted he could be out for six to eight weeks – though this was before scans.
And Mowbray will be hoping Nyambe’s injury doesn’t disrupt the stability of their back five, with the Namibian wing-back missing just seven of Blackburn’s 34 Championship games this season.
“I’ve talked a lot about the problems we had last year in central defence, it was a major issue for us,” Mowbray said recently.
“This year there has been stability in central defence and the results have been much better, playing a totally different way.
“I do think it’s a really important position for any team, no matter how good with the ball you are, if you can’t keep clean sheets you aren’t going to win many matches.
“That’s been a bit of a difference in stability in our backline, whereas we never did last year.”
Predicted Blackburn XI vs Fulham:
- Kaminski; Wharton, Van Hecke, Lenihan; Zeefuik, Johnson, Travis, Pickering; Gallagher, Dolan, Khadra. (3-4-3)