Both sides come into this one off the back of a 0-0 draw, Fulham against West Bromwich Albion, while Sheffield Wednesday drew a blank with Huddersfield Town.
The Cottagers have been in good form of late, having won four games on the bounce before their stalemate with The Baggies, whilst victories against fellow play-off contenders Nottingham Forest and Cardiff City are included within that, so Garry Monk will be under no illusion that the trip to West London will be anything other than a tough day at the office.
However, what will lighten his hopes is Wednesday’s ability to hit the back of the net on the road. With 36 goals they are the leading scorers away from home in The Championship.
The last three of those goals came in West London against Queens Park Rangers when goals from Dominic Iorfa, Josh Windass and Jacob Murphy sealed an emphatic away win.
The hosts will be confident they can brave the storm of The Owls’ away exploits though as they have the third best record in the league on home soil, with 14 victories from a possible 22.
Only Brentford and Leeds United have better records on their own patch.
Scott Parker’s side have lost just one game at Craven Cottage since mid-February which came in a 2-0 defeat against West London rivals Brentford and with the play-offs on the horizon they will be doing all they can to ensure they hit the ground running in the last push for a return to The Premier League.
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Head to Head
The sides could not be separated when they last met at Hillsborough in September. Fulham thought Tom Cairney’s goal just before the break was going to be enough for them to take all three points back South, however a 93rd minute diving header by Atdhe Nuhiu snatched a point for Wednesday in Garry Monk’s second game in charge of the club.
The previous meeting at The Cottage though was won by the visitors in August 2017 when Steven Fletcher’s volley grabbed the first three points of the 2017/18 season for The Owls.
In fact, Wednesday are unbeaten at Craven Cottage since December 2014, when they suffered a 4-0 defeat courtesy of goals from Fulham’s Ross McCormack, Shaun Hutchinson, Lasse Vigen Christensen and Cauley Woodrow.
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Team News
Garry Monk is hopeful that Connor Wickham, Kieran Leeand Liam Palmer will all be back available for selection. Wickham and Lee have been side-lined for the last three games while Palmer missed the last two after picking up a knock against Preston North End.
On the trio’s injury concerns Monk said:
“We’ll see this morning (Thursday) how they come in and how they’re feeling.
“There were no problems yesterday and if there’s no reaction today they’ll be training so we’re very hopeful they’ll be ready for the weekend.”
However, young defender Osaze Urhoghide will miss the remainder of the campaign due to a knee injury.
Scott Parker meanwhile, has concerns over Ivan Cavaleiro after he had to be replaced before the break last time out against West Brom.
Tom Cairney is also a doubt after he missed out against West Brom due to an injury he picked up against win over Birmingham City.
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Key Battle
Dom Iorfa will have his hands full with Fulham frontman Aleksandar Mitrovic who is still battling it out for the crown of Championship top scorer with Brentford’s Ollie Watkins. Currently, Watkins is leading with 25 goals but Mitrovic is only a goal behind and will be on the prowl for a couple in this game.
Iorfa has marshalled the likes of Jordan Hugill, Eberechi Eze and Karlan Grant in his last two outings but could the test of the big Serbian prove a step too far?
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Thoughts from the training ground
Monk spoke to the media via Zoom on Thursday morning and said:
“It will be tough but we are concentrating on us, we want to finish these two games unbeaten and positively.
“From the inside there has been a lot of positivity throughout this whole period. I have seen the difference in the players.
“I think since we have come back there has been a stronger atmosphere within.”
Scott Parker told the press:
“We’re sitting in a position where we are guaranteed fourth. What’s most important from my side is that momentum is with us, albeit we wanted to win the game against West Brom, on the scale of things it’s a positive result for us away against a very good side.
“We want to keep momentum going, we want to be high energy, we want to be on the front foot, and we want to take another positive result into another game against Wigan which we’ll approach with the same attitude.”
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Form
FFC: L W W W W D
SWFC: W L L L W D