Jacob Steinberg’s report is in, which means we’re done here. Thanks all for your company and comments, sorry I couldn’t get to them all; peace out.
Oh, and he also says he felt the touch and he was going fast so it took him down. Jamie Carragher, though, reckons it’s harsh because the touch was slight; I’m in disagreement. Cairney gets the ball, Semedo gets a touch, Cairney takes it away from him, and then comes the foul.
Tom Cairney is very happy. Before the game, he told his teammates they needed a performance more than a win because if you play well, results come. It was important, he says, to play well at 0-0 because recently they’ve done well when behind but you can’t give yourself too much to do “in this league:”. Wolves are a good team, he says, but they weren’t leaving tonight without the points, and he’s given the player of the match award; one he well earned.
The thing was that you saw none of that in him. In the dressing room that night, the father figure just came out again, because that was how he was and how he treated people. Even in the hardest moments, he still always found the right thing to say. Like I said, yes, he was a great coach. But my word, was he a great man.”
This is great. Imagine having people say this about you.
“I think this has been discussed here before,” says Samuel Campbell, “but the whole idea of what constitutes a penalty needs looked at. Wilson is running away from goal and does not have the ball under control. Yes it’s a foul but that should not be rewarded with a free shot at goal.”
Yup, I’ve been banging on about this for years. I’m certain my solution of giving a pen for any infringement, anywhere on the pitch, that denies a goalscoring opportunity, makes sense; I’m less convinced that a bunch of direct free-kicks for box-infringements that don’t is the best alternative.
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Talking of Wolves, they’re 12th, above Fulham and Palace on goal difference, and will play worse than tonight and win. But rash challenges in the box – and a bit of attacking class – cost them.
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FULL TIME: Fulham 3-2 Wolves
A colossal win for Fulham, who move up just one place, above Forest and into 14th, but it’s a result that really cements their status before an away trip to Liverpool at the weekend. Wolves will feel very poorly.
90+11 min Fulham make first contact but don’t get the ball away; it breaks left, Wilson slides into a square-pass, and it bobbles up on to Reed’s hand, then Leno clears. VAR takes a look, but the ball clearly played the man, who was looking the other way.
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90+10 min Gomes is caught by Lukic and Sa comes forward for the free-kick, to be pumped into the box…
90+9 min They do eventually get it into Doyle who, 25 yards out, decides the best thing to do is take a shot, which dribbles through to Leno.
90+9 min Wolves just can’t get hold of the ball.
90+8 min “One part of the VAR debate that gets overlooked,” says Justion Madson. “The fun of watching players who are clearly guilty of fouls remonstrate as if they were a child being unfairly denied a cookie from the cookie jar.”
Also, the fun of watching players who have clearly been fouled being unfairly denied the penalty they’ve earned. Glorious.
90+7 min A win here takes Fulham on to 15 points – same as Wolves. They badly need these points to get their season going, but also, it’d take a remarkable effort for them to be drawn into a relegation scrap from here given third-bottom Sheffield United have only five.
90+6 min The review took a fair while, so I’d expect at least nine additional minutes.
90+5 min Fulham send on Lukic for Cairney.
GOAL! Fulham 3-2 Wolves (Willian pen 90+4)
Again, Wilian dallies, for much longer this time, but this time the keeper doesn’t go! No matter: Willian’s strike is true, so though the keeper guesses right, going left, the ball is past him and above him; what a crucial win this would be for Fulham!
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PENALTY TO FULHAM!
Gomes was unlucky because he had no idea Wilson was there and Wilson knew that, playing him, but it’s a foul, in the box, so it’s a penalty. Again: the issue is that the punishment it too severe, not with refs, VAR or the players.
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VAR WANTS A LOOK!
It’s taking it’s time and the more they look at the purported offence, the more you know what they’re goiong to do, and shonuff the ref is called to the monitor…
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90 min Now then! Gomes tarries in the box, wilson dashes across on his blind side, nicks the ball away, and the defender, already committed to the challenge, lunges because he was lunging. He gets a piece of Wilson, I’d say, who, though he’s running away from goal doing nothing and though he knows the challenge is coming and plays for it, as far as I grasp the laws, that’s a third penalty! But the ref says no…
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88 min “I get what Simon Williams is saying,” writes Matt Dony, “but if a player slides in to a tackle in the centre circle, gets a slight touch on the ball, but takes out the opponent, then it would generally be given as a foul. But too often in the penalty box, any touch on the ball is used as justification for a heavy challenge. It’s not consistent across the pitch.”
I agree, and refer you to my previous penalty comment.
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87 min Wilson fouls Vinicius who leaps up and, thinking it’s Kilman puts brow to brow; he’s booked.
85 min Cairney megs Lemina who, committed to the challenge, can’t help but foul him. The resultant booking, though, is harsh, and he too will miss the weekend trip to Arsenal.
84 min Your super, soaraway Guardian is able to exclusively reveal what the note said:
83 min Change for Wolves, Doyle on for Cunha; he passes Kilman a note.
82 min “Would it be unkind to say that Ream is having a nightmare?” wonders Peter Oh,
No, but on the plus side, things can only get better.
81 min “You’re not likely to find a better example of Commentator’s Curse as your example at 70 minutes,” notes David Mooney.
Please don’t tell Richard Hirst.
79 min Wolves are coming now, Doherty bundling through a pair of weak challenges and skewing a square pass that’s intercepted by Ream who extends a go go Gadget leg to make a really important intervention.
78 min “Semedo can absolutely feel hard done by,” reckons Simon Williams. “Completely get why the ref gave it full speed but the replay shows he got the ball first. Are we saying now that players shouldn’t make a tackle if they think that after playing the ball they might clip the player? Because if so we’ve jumped the shark (again). VAR seems extremely disinclined to overrule the referee.”
I’d like VAR to be disinclined to overrule the ref, but I’m not sure that’s so. Also, getting the ball doesn’t mean it’s not a foul – if the touch isn’t significant and the attacker is still in possession, as happened in our situation, it’s a foul I think. The real issue, though, is that a penalty is far too severe a punishment for most offences that result in one; we’ve seen two of those tonight.
76 min Double change for Fulham: Pereira and Jimenez go off, Wilson and Vinicius come on.
GOAL! Fulham 2-2 Wolves (Hwang pen 75)
Leno dives right and Hwang applies laces to leather, smashing high down the middle!
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VAR WANTS A LOOK
74 min The check is for offside, there isn’t one, and Hwang will look to level things…
PENALTY TO WOLVES!
73 min A long punt forward, Bassey does brilliantly to hurl himself into a flick-on ahead of Kilman – nobody does it better, etc – and Hwang seizes on to the loose ball, nodding down to himself. So Ream barges him over right on the edge and when he didn’t need to, forcing the ref to point to the spot!
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70 min For the first time tonight, pretty much, Fulham look likelier to score, more threatening on the counter than Wolves in general play.
68 min Jimenez has woken up! Castagne clips long into Jimenez, who touches off first time and Iwobi bursts on to the ball … with a man over inside him! Can they finish this?! They cannot! Rather than square, Iwobi goes himself, curling an outswinger from the edge that’s far too close to Sa, who tips away easily enough.
67 min I’m a little surprised O’Neil has moved Cunha out of the middle. I wonder if he might do better in behind Kalajdzic, perhaps at the apex of a diamond.
65 min Cairney, who/s had a good game tonight, plays into Jimenez and he lays off for Pereira. Though the attack then breaks down, that’s exactly the kind of thing Fulham need from their centre-forward – along with some goals.
64 min Wolves have changed from 3-5-2 to 4-3-3, Hwang right, Cunha left and Kalajdzic middle. What they also need, I think, is midfielders crashing the box.
62 min Change for Wolves, Kalajdzic replacing Bellegarde.
60 min Also, during the wait as VAR checked things out, the crowd sung “Fuck V-A-R”. It may have been Fulham fans hoping their penalty would remain so, but I don’t know anyone who thinks what we have is better than what we had.
59 min Looking again at the penalty, I think this is an important call, because Semedo did get a bit of the ball, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a foul. He didn’t take it away from Cairney, so when he tripped him thereafter, he couldn’t really complain.
GOAL! Fulham 2-1 Wolves (Willian pen 59)
Willian ambles up to the ball, pauses, and when Sa goes left, he rolls right.
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VAR WANTS A LOOK!
They look at Cairney’s tackle; was it fair? Yes is the verdict, then they wonder if Semedo got the ball; no is the verdict. It remains a penalty, and rightly so; Willian will take…
PENALTY TO WOLVES!
54 min Cairney wins a gigantic tackle on Lemina and Pereira picks up possession, driving into the box. He’s blocked off by Semedo, but the ball breaks to Cairney again and a fine first touch, moving ball from foot to foot like Iniesta, takes him inside Semedo who, already committed to the tackle, slides in takes the man.
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53 min Hwang wins a challenge out wide on halfway and finds Cunha, infield, who slides back to the flank, and when Hwang crosses low and hard, Castagne does brilliantly to slide in before Doherty can finish.
53 min Fulham have got to find a way of servicing Jimenez who, I’m afraid, looks way off it. There’s no reason, though, that he can’t become a poacher – but he’ll need more help than he’s getting.
51 min Robinson’s made a good start to the half and he wins another corner – and we see another planned move. This time, the ball goes short to Pereira, who can’t find a telling cross, but I think the move is a good one: it’s fairly rare we see a corner followed by a scoring header, so working out ways of making space and surprising opponents is one way of making the advantage tell. I’m surprised we don’t see that kind of thing more often.
50 min Ream has the ball on halfway and stands there, because no one’s offering for him. That, I’m afraid, is Fulham at the moment; Wolves have swapped their wing-backs, so Doherty is right and Semedo left. That makes good sense to me, as i think the latter is better on the wrong side.
48 min It’s been bothering me, but I think I now know of whom Antonee Robinson reminds me.
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47 min Cairney down the line to Robinson, who lumps a cross behind the back post and behind; he won’t mind seeing the flag go up.
46 min Wolves are straight back into stride, Lemina finding Doherty whose cross is a goodun … but Cunha, a fair way out, can’t time his connection.
46 min We go again.
On reflection, New Year’s Day feels a bit early to be held responsible for an end-of-season outcome. Er, or not.
Half-time email: “Noooooo,” beings Richard Hirst. “How could you? Not half-time fun! I was at that match and it cost us promotion to the First Division (that and the pitch invasion by Derby fans which ended the match prematurely and cost us the chance to overtake Leicester – it wouldn’t happen now).”
Half-time fun:
HALF-TIME: Fulham 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Fulham started well enough, but Wolves look the better side now, quicker, stronger and more inventive.
45+3 Robinson slides a pass down the left for Willian, who has Iwobi making a run inside. But the pass is poor, and that’ll be the last action of the half.
47+2 min Cunha seems to have hurt himself, but I don’t think it’s anything serious.
45 min We’ll have three additional minutes.
45 min Accepting a backpass, Leno decides he’s Beckenbauer, taking an extra touch – all Lemina needs to nip in and confiscate possession. But the challenge takes him wide, meaning he’s to turn and lay back a pass for Gomes … but Bassey reads it and intercepts. Excellent defending.
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44 min Kanu, what a talent he was. Anyone remember a show looking at the lives of Premier League footballers, where he talked about how lonely he felt in England? He seemed a really sound bloke.
43 min In comms, they reckon Wolves need to get Bellegarde on the ball, and that sounds a decent ploy to me. He’s got that lovely, lazy way of moving with the ball, doing stuff that looks slow but isn’t – not unlike Nwankwo Kanu.
42 min It’s gone a bit scrappy.
40 min Fulham win a corner down the right, cleared easily enough, then Cunha, near his own corner flag, wins a big challenge, noising up the away fans behind the goal.
39 min “The two teams I remember best from Euro ‘96 were the finalists,” says Kári Tulinius. “Nedved and Hässler, especially, were in amazing form throughout, but the whole Czech and German teams were brilliant. Nedved is well remembered, but Hässler isn’t mentioned as often as he should be, looking him up on YouTube is worth anybody’s time.”
Too right. I enjoyed Haessler in Italia 90 too, a worthy successor to pierre Littbarski, while Euro 96 was – for me – all about Matthias Sammer.
38 min Cunha and Hwang combine to win a corner which, when only half-cleared, arrives with Bellegarde, whose dangerous low cross-shot is turned away sdperbly by Castagne, under pressure and facing his own net.
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36 min Iwobi comes inside, swings a lovely ball to the far post, and Willian brings it down, a little wide but with a good sight of goal. Semedo, though, launches into a slide that misses man and ball … but does just enough to clutter things up and ensure Willian’s touch runs away from him.
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34 min Another plan, I guess: Pereira, rather than clip the ball in, goes short and square; the ensuing pump into the box is easily cleared.
33 min Willian comes in off the line and at speed, knocking off just in time to wear a clattering from Gomes. He’s booked and will now be suspended for the weekend visit to Arsenal.
30 min We’ve all seen what’s happening to Fulham with our own teams when they’re out of form: they can start well, but as soon as things go a little awry, they struggle to right themselves. Ultimately, Jimenez – the post-injury Jimenez – is no replacement for Aleksandr Mitrovic, and until they find someone who is, they’re going to struggle.
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29 min Iwobi, who’s spending a lot of time out right, cuts inside, moving across the face of the box, and it opens up such that he really has to shoot, dragging a left-footer just wide of the near post.
28 min But they enjoy a bit of possession, working it wide to Pereira … who lumps a cross miles from anywhere as Jimenez shapes up in expectation of an overhead. Maybe next time, old mate.
26 min Reed gives it away again, turning when he had no right to, just outside his own box. He’s robbed by Hwang, the ball goes left, and Doherty’s cut-back is just too strong. That’s a let-off for Fulham, who are struggling now.
24 min “Referees are not there to be understood, nor to get miffed at, nor to even acknowledge,” says Justin Kavanagh. “Think about it: These ‘people’ choose to officiate when they could be playing the game they (presumably) love. They are aliens, methinks. And one good reason to welcome AI to the world.”
I agree with the first bit of this: refs are there to be ignored. But increasingly, I respect their competence and I’m grateful for their forbearance because too many people have not a clue how to behave.
GOAL! Fulham 1-1 Wolves (Cunha 22)
Cunha scores, but this is all Jean-Ricner Bellegarde! A decent pass into midfield, another out wide, and suddenly Bellegarde is running at Robinson. His first touch is sensational, a flowing, natural caress that’s earlier than expected, taking the ball away from the defender, who commits when chucked a feint inside. He’s then easily passed on the outside, and a perfect curved cross is nodded inside the far post by Cunha, his header harder than it first looked.
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20 min Ait-Nouri can’t continue, so O’Neil sends on Doherty in his stead. He’s played left-wing-back before, but it’s not his position and the lack of natural width won’t help Wolves.
18 min Hwang turns adroitly in midfield, eases on to the gas and away from Ream, again; Ream yanks him back and is booked. I’m certain Wolves will be trying to put those two in a race whenever possible.
17 min This is an enjoyable game. Pereira moves through midfield and the ball goes to Iwobi, who sees a pass to be punched in behind, Semedo running on to it. But there’s too much on it and it runs behind for a goalkick.
15 min Ait-Nouri returns, still limping.
14 min Lemina intercepts a pass in midfield and drives, then coaxes ann excellent through-pass that eliminates Ream and sends Hwans racing through the centre. Bassey barrels across, but though he probably forces an early shot, he can’t do anything to stop a tremendous effort which shrieks and screeches high past Leno … and against the bar!
13 min Oh dear, Ait-Nouri runs past the ball trying to win it off Cairney, and looks in a lot of pain when he plants a foot and sort of goes over it with his knee. He’s at the side receiving treatment, but I’d not be surprised if that’s his evening done.
11 min “When you think of all the things you can get booked for nowadays,” says Stephen Carr, “and then look at the those fouls by Reed and Robinson that went unpunished, is it any wonder we all get so miffed with referees?”
Er, sort of. I don’t massively have the energy to get vexed with officials because their job is difficult, they make fewer errors than players and managers, and the atmosphere the whole thing creates is why we’ve been stuck with VAR. But I’ve not a clue how Robinson avoided a card.
9 min Fulham are into this now! A big switch finds Iwobi out wide, and his first-time cross is too hard – just – for Willian at the back post, who slides into a shot that’s blocked behind. And the eventuating corner is a clever one, going short along the by-line to Willian, who cuts back for Cairney at the edge with the defenders all dragged towards goal. But his shot is straight at Sa, who prangs to safety with greater difficulty than was strictly necessary.
9 min “I see Wolves have got a Bueno on the pitch and another one on the bench,” notes Peter Oh. “It’s two ‘Good’ to be true!”
GOAL! Fulham 1-0 Wolves (Iwobi 7)
Simple but excellent. Iwobi spreads, Robinson gives and goes, fed back down the line by Willian, and though the low cut-back is a little behind Iwobi, he adjusts feet superbly to turn home at the near post.
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6 min Bassey turns out of trouble assuredly then, when Robinson gives it away, he quickly averts any danger with a smart first-time, forward pass out of defence.
5 min Reed loses it to Bellegarde in midfield and he slides forward for Jimenez as Robinson ploughs through him; Leno races out to clear, and the ref does nothing.
4 min Fulham started brightly, but the last minute or so, Wolves have eased themselves into the game with some easy possession.
3 min I meant to mention, each side is down a winger: Fulham are missing Adam Traore, who I think, given better circumstances, could’ve become a very fine player, while Wolves are without Pedro Neto, who already is a very fine player.
3 min Pereira drives through midfield … for as long as it takes Lemina to son him off and come away with the ball.
1 min There we go! Fulham spread it, Castagne feeds Pereira down the line, and his low, hard cross picks out Jimenez … who tries a flicks and misses. It wasn’t an easy finish, but he had a good look at the path of the ball, he just mistimed his connection.
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1 min “I suspect Freddie Ljungberg’s sartorial choices might not be enough to dislodge memories of his glorious half-dozen games for Celtic when Philippe Clement is mutually consented next autumn,” reckons Gerry Scott.
1 min Away we go!
Here come wa teams!
Rob is right, of course, but as he’ll agree, Euro 96 wasn’t really about the football but about a moment in time. Cards on the table, I was 17 at the time and there’s not much I’d not have enjoyed, but that was a special summer – and Venables was a lot of the reason why.
On which point, here are two classic pieces by the great Rob Smyth…
Sky are now advertising a doc on Terry Venables, and what a giant he was. A manager and coach of intellect and innovation, a man of charisma and kindness; as an epitaph, you’d take it.
I’m looking forward to seeing how Calvin Bassey does tonight. I’ve not seen much of Fulham this season but I saw a fair bit of him when he was at Rangers, liked it a lot, and at 23 he’s still time to improve.
Fame! “I have submitted your term aforedissed to Urban Dictionary,” emails Jami Tay;or. “It was not there and it absolutely should be. I defined it as ‘denoting a thing or person previously disparaged (dissed).’ Well done.”
Any more for any more?
Where is tonight’s game? Fulham will, I think, look to get in behind the Wolves wing-backs and down the sides of the wide centre-backs, in order to feed Jimenez. And failing that, they’ll want to play into Jiménez and for Andreas Pereira to pick up the pieces.
Wolves, though, will be very hard to break down through the middle, and if Fulham double-up out wide, there’ll be space for Cunha, Hwang, and whoever else crashes the box. I really fancy them for this one.
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Some fashion in the Sky studio tonight. The footwear is, of course, something else, but don’t miss Freddie Ljungberg’s jumper-over-tie combo. Maybe he’s pitching to be Rangers manager, in which case he’ll need more of a v-neck knit situaton.
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Email! “The last Fulham game I saw before we moved to France was Fulham 5 Wolves 0 in March 2012,” writes Richard Hirst. “That seems the least likely of all possible scorelines tonight, but boy would it be welcome. I wouldn’t say it’s a must win game but, with Liverpool away next up, it’s a must not lose or else we will become the team most likely to plummet when one of the three ‘relegation certainties’ you identified does a Lazarus act.”
Talking of Lazarus, has anyone seen the Lazarus Project? I’ve not got to it yet, but Joe Barton, it’s writer/director, made Giri-Haji, one of the best shows I’ve seen the last few years. As for Fulham, I do fancy them to lose tonight, but I don’t see the sides below having enough to close the gap.
On Sky, they’re talking about Anthony Gordon. I know thing went sour towards the end at Everton, but from the time he broke into the squad, he was one of the few alright things about watching them. When you combine pace, moxie and desire, you’re likely to have something decent, and I’m not at all surprised that Eddie Howe has made him a key man.
As for his XI, he sticks with the side that beat Spurs – bar Craig Dawson, who’s suspended; Santi Bueno comes in for his debut. That also means that Pablo Sarabia, who scored such a beautiful goal last time out, remains on the bench.
Meanwhile, the increasingly impressive O’Neil accepts that Spurs were missing a few, but he was really happy with how his team attacked the game, playing on the front foot and dominating. As a manager who changes things up depending on the opposition, he notes that Spurs try to pull you out of position and have players turning up where you don’t expect them to so that required a plan. Tonight, though, is a different test, and he’s eager to state that tactics can only go so far – he needs the right mentality from his players.
Marco Silva wants his side to start well and play well. More news as I get it.
Fulham make two alterations to the side comprehensively beaten by Villa before the internationals: Joao Palhinha is suspended for accumulating five bookings, so Harrison Reed comes in, while Tom Cairney is prepared to Bobby De Cordova-Reed.
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I’m going to write these down, then we’ll have a think about what they mean.
Teams!
Fulham (4-2-3-1): Leno; Castagne, Bassey, Ream, Robinson; Iwobi, Reed; Cairney, Pereira, Willian; Jiménez. Subs: Rodak, Tete, Adarabioyo, Wilson, Ballo-Touré, De Cordova-Reid, Lukic, Vinicius, Harris.
Wolverhampton Wanderers (3-5-2): Sá; Kilman, Bueno, Gomes; Semedo, Bellegarde, Lemina, Gomes, Ait-Nouri; Hwang, Cunha. Subs: Doherty, Traoré, Silva, Bueno, Kalajdzic, Jonny, Doyle, Sarabia, Bentley.
Referee: Michael Salisbury (Penwortham)
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Preamble
If you’re already getting 10 points deducted, getting them deducted this season is an absolute touch – which, on the face of things, has little to do with tonight’s match, given Everton played yesterday. But bear with me: the reason Everton have had a right result is that the three promoted clubs – Burnley, Sheffield United, Luton – look doomed, and a quick look at the Championship table shows clubs with the means to stay up – Leicester and Leeds – well-placed to make an immediate Premier League return. Maintaining status next term will be a far harder task than it is this.
So tonight’s teams should also be feeling lucky (punk). Fulham were terrific in claiming 10th spot last term but have regressed to the mean since and, though they sit seven points off the bottom three, now team in the league has scored fewer and they’ve taken just one point from the last 12, kept out of more serious trouble only by Everton’s situation and the poverty of the aforedissed promoted clubs.
Wolves, meanwhile, have started pretty well under Gary O’Neil, beating Manchester City and, most recently, Spurs, with two injury-time goals. But they’re still struggling to score and, if the teams below them improve, they could quickly slip down the table – though again, probably not below Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton.
And the direct matchup looks a goodun. Both teams compete with proper intensity and, with Raúl Jiménez making his first appearance against Wolves, we’re not lacking for narrative and subplot. But with João Palhinha suspended, they may not have the protection and possession to which they’re used.
But Wolves under O’Neil are far more dynamic than previously, playing with conviction and invention. In particular, the running power of Mario Lemina, Hwang Hee-chan and Matheus Cunha is a problem, and the confidence they’ll have garnered from those two big wins – one telling them they can best the best, the other that they can perform miracles – makes them a difficult proposition tonight.
Real talk, at the end of the season, this game probably won’t matter that much. But though neither team can afford to become complacent, both know that their best level is a decent level, and the freedom of knowing what’s below should help them hit it more often – hopefully starting tonight.
Kick-off: 8pm GMT
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