Fulham and Ipswich Town kick-start 2025 with a Premier League contest at Craven Cottage on Sunday afternoon.
While the Cottagers continue to eye up the European places, the Tractor Boys are bidding to climb out of the relegation zone as they endeavour to avoid an immediate drop to the second tier.
Match preview
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At the halfway stage in the Premier League season, Fulham are five points and five places better off than at this stage of the previous campaign, and Marco Silva's men are currently enjoying a seven-game unbeaten run - they last enjoyed a longer undefeated streak in November/December 2008 (nine).
Five draws were played out over the festive period, though, including a 2-2 home draw with Bournemouth last Sunday in which the Cottagers led twice but ultimately had to settle for a share of the spoils, after Dango Ouattara netted an 89th-minute equaliser.
Fulham - who beat Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge three days earlier - currently sit eighth in the top-flight standings and Silva's men are sure to be motivated by the prospect of securing European football for the first time in over a decade, as they are only three points behind Newcastle United in fifth spot.
The Cottagers head into Sunday's contest having drawn each of their last three home matches and they also drew 1-1 with Ipswich at Portman Road earlier this season - Adama Traore cancelled out an early opener from Liam Delap.
Nevertheless, Fulham are unbeaten in each of their last six meetings with the Tractor Boys (W4 D2) and they have won their last two home league encounters by an aggregate score of 7-2, including a 4-1 victory in January 2018.
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After losing back-to-back games by an aggregate score of 5-0 to Newcastle United and Arsenal either side of Christmas, Ipswich ended 2024 on an almighty high by securing a surprise 2-0 home victory over Chelsea last Monday.
Liam Delap and Omari Hutchinson were not even born the last time that the Tractor Boys celebrated a Premier League home win 22 years ago, but the former scored from the penalty spot before setting up the latter to help Kieran McKenna's side claim a memorable triumph in front of the Portman Road faithful.
The prospect of an immediate relegation back to the Championship still looms over Ipswich, but victory against Chelsea has boosted their survival hopes, as they have climbed up to 18th spot and sit just one point adrift of safety at the halfway stage.
Ipswich have now won two of their last four Premier League matches, as many as they achieved in their previous 28 games combined, and they head into Sunday's fixture seeking to win consecutive top-flight matches for the first time since January/February 2002 when they beat none other than Fulham 1-0 at home.
The Tractor Boys have been slow starters to the New Year for some time, though, as they have only won their first league game in one of the last 16 calendar years (D8 L7) - winning 4-0 at Gillingham in League One in 2022.
Team News
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Fulham boss Silva has revealed that Sander Berge (ankle) is "going to be closer" to a return from injury than Reiss Nelson (hamstring), but both players are not ready to return this weekend and remain sidelined along with Kenny Tete and Harrison Reed (both knee).
Silva has deployed a three-at-the-back system with wing-backs in the last two matches, with Fulham picking up four points in that time, and the Portuguese will seemingly stick with the same formation against Ipswich.
Issa Diop, Joachim Andersen and Calvin Bassey are therefore set to continue in central defence, as Timothy Castagne and Antonee Robinson operate on the flanks, while Harry Wilson - who has scored in his last two appearances - could continue in attack with Alex Iwobi and Raul Jimenez.
As for Ipswich, Conor Chaplin is facing a couple of weeks out with a knee injury and will join Axel Tuanzebe (hamstring), Chiedozie Ogbene (Achilles), George Hirst (knee) and Massimo Luongo (illness) in the treatment room.
In the win over Chelsea, Christian Walton kept a clean sheet on his first Premier League start since the opening weekend of the season, and McKenna has since confirmed that the goalkeeper will retain his place between the sticks at the expense of Arijanet Muric.
Midfielder Kalvin Phillips will be hoping to force his way back into the first XI at the expense of either Sam Morsy or Jens Cajuste, while Nathan Broadhead, Sammie Szmodics and Jack Clarke will all be pushing to start in attack.
Fulham possible starting lineup:
Leno; Diop, Andersen, Bassey; Castagne, Pereira, Lukic, Robinson; Wilson, Jimenez, Iwobi
Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:
Walton; O'Shea, Greaves, Wolfenden, Davis; Morsy, Cajuste; Burns, Hutchinson, Szmodics; Delap
We say: Fulham 2-1 Ipswich Town
Ipswich have won two of their three Premier League games away from home and head to Craven Cottage in high spirits after beating Chelsea, but they will once again be underdogs this weekend against a Fulham side who have made themselves difficult to beat in recent weeks.
A similarly close contest to the 1-1 draw played out between these two teams at Portman Road earlier this season could be on the cards on Sunday, but we are backing the home side to come out on top by a narrow margin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
