Two in-form Premier League sides are set to battle for the opportunity to climb to the top half of the standings and everything suggests we will see a very interesting game at Craven Cottage. Fulham have been absolutely brilliant at home of late, whereas Swansea have shown a lot of improvement on the travels, meaning that we could see a very close game between two evenly matched sides.

The Pogrebnyak effect

Fulham have established themselves as a rock-solid side that rarely concede goals, especially at their Craven Cottage, but they were never regarded as a team that are scoring goals for fun. Well, not until this season. The Cottagers experienced some problems at the start to the season as they found it hard to balance between their Premier League and Europa League campaigns, but even then it was evident that Martin Jol was a fan of attack-minded approach and that he planned to transmit his philosophy to the players. With players like Dempsey, Johnson, Dembele, Duff and Ruiz fighting for places up front, nobody was surprised to see Fulham in good scoring form at their Craven Cottage, and the arrival of Pavel Pogrebnyak only made the Cottagers more dangerous in attack. As a result, Fulham have scored 17 goals in last 5 home games, while conceding four in the process. Following the 5-0 victory over Wolverhampton, Martin Jol’s side will fancy their chances against Swansea, although they will have to be wary of players like Graham, Sigurdsson, Routledge and Sinclair.

Martin Jol has no fresh injury worries, meaning he could field the same side that were beaten at Villa Park.

Swans flying high

I have to admit I am a real sucker for Swansea City and their style of play, which has rightly won them a lot of supporters across the globe. To say that Swans are English Barcelona would not be exaggeration as the team do try to mimic Barcelona’s style of play seeing they use a lot of short passes to reach the opponent’s box. Brendan Rodgers believes attack is the best defence and it is this approach that has seen Swansea climb to 11th place in the standings, and I certainly won’t be surprised if the Welsh side finish the season in the top half of the Premier League table. Coming back of the impressive home victory over Manchester City, Swansea will not be afraid to attack Fulham and that kind of approach should guarantee us a very open game at Craven Cottage. The Swans have now virtually ensured survival, meaning they play without any pressure and can continue to search for victories rather than draws on the travels.

Nathan Dyer continues to miss out through suspension, but Kemy Augustien is out for the season. Andrea Orlandi is back from a hamstring problem.

Verdict

Fulham have been absolutely brilliant at Craven Cottage over the last few weeks and their attacking power could prove too much for Swansea defenders. The Welsh side, on the other hand, continue to prove they can score goals against every opponent, so over 2.5 goals looks like a good choice here.

Our prediction: Over 2.5 goals

Odds: 2.12 (28/25)

Bookmaker: 188BET