Fulham will be looking to get back to winning ways in the Championship when they welcome Sheffield Wednesday to Craven Cottage in their penultimate regular season fixture.
The Cottagers were held by West Bromwich Albion last time out to all but end their automatic promotion hopes, while Wednesday played out a stalemate with Huddersfield Town to remain 15th.
Match preview
© Reuters
Four wins in a row for Fulham had them hot on the heels of West Brom, but Tuesday's stalemate at the Hawthorns saw them miss out on the chance to close the gap to two points.
Instead, it is now a five-point gap on the second-placed Baggies, who can further extend that advantage when they take on Huddersfield Town in the Friday night fixture.
That would officially kill off Fulham's automatic promotion hopes ahead of this clash with Wednesday, though Scott Parker will be after three points regardless.
It is all about momentum for the Whites now with a playoff spot already assured of ahead of their closing fixtures with Wednesday and Wigan Athletic.
Thirteen points from the last 15 on offer has been a good response from Fulham after a slow start on their return to action last month.
© Reuters
They will see this visit of the Owls as a chance to add three more points to the board given that the visitors have won just three of their last 17 matches in all competitions.
The most recent of those wins for Garry Monk's side came in their last away outing - Dominic Iorfa, Josh Windass and Jacob Murphy all on target in the 3-0 win at Queens Park Rangers.
That comfortable victory was followed up by a goalless draw against Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield Town in midweek, leaving Wednesday firmly in mid-table.
Finishing in the top half may be the target for Monk after back-to-back games without defeat, though there is a four-point gap to make up on 12th-placed Blackburn Rovers.
However, there is still talk of the Owls possibly being deducted points for breaching the EFL's Profit and Sustainability laws centering around the sale of Hillsborough.
That could yet leave Wednesday at risk of dropping out of the division, but they will have to wait at least another few days to discover the outcome of the case.
Fulham's Championship form: LWWWWD
Sheffield Wednesday's Championship form: WLLLWD
Team News
© Reuters
Ivan Cavaleiro was taken off before half time in midweek, rendering him doubtful for this match, with Neeskens Kebano likely to step in.
Stefan Johansen is pushing for inclusion after being named on the bench in midweek, while Cyrus Christie is another who will be hopeful of a return to the XI.
Midfielder Tom Cairney has missed Fulham's last three games and is likely to miss out again here, so Harrison Reed will partner one of Josh Onomah or Johansen.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Monk said he is hopeful of having Connor Wickham, Kieran Lee and Liam Palmer back available for Saturday's trip to West London.
Murphy was brought into the side to partner Windass against Huddersfield and the winger likely did enough to retain his in the starting lineup.
That was the only change made by Monk from the win over QPR and Alessio Da Cruz will be hoping to earn back his place up top here.
Sam Winnall and Steven Fletcher have spent time on the sidelines and they will play no part in this one.
Fulham possible starting lineup:
Rodak; Odoi, Hector, Ream, Bryan; Reed, Johansen; Knockaert, Reid, Kebano; Mitrovic
Sheffield Wednesday possible starting lineup:
Wildsmith; Lees, Iorfa, Borner; Murphy, Luongo, Bannan, Reach, Harris; Murphy, Windass
We say: Fulham 2-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Fulham's automatic promotion hopes may well be over by the time they kick off against Wednesday, but Parker will want to keep his side's positive form going regardless. The Whites have won four of their last five home matches without conceding and we are backing them to come out on top this weekend.
Daniel Lewis
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Fulham win with a probability of 48.03%. A win for Sheffield Wednesday had a probability of 26.78% and a draw had a probability of 25.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Fulham win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.86%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.37%) and 2-0 (8.5%). The likeliest Sheffield Wednesday win was 0-1 (7.65%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.97%). The actual scoreline of 5-3 was predicted with a 0.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Fulham would win this match.
