Premier League: Fulham and Wolves are Trending in Different Directions

Fulham vs Wolverhampton Wanderers

Fulham have yet to find the spark that they need to revive their 2023-24 campaign, and they’re hoping that a home date against the Wolves on Monday would provide a cure to their ills.

Marco Silva’s men are winless in their last four Premier League games prior to the international break, with three losses and one draw. As a result, they’ve plummeted to 15^th in the standings, although they’re still far from the drop zone, at least for now.

On the other hand, the Wolves have shown signs of improvement as of late, especially after coming off a big victory against Tottenham two weeks ago. Gary O’Neil’s side is currently in 12^th place, and a Top 10 push now looks realistic.

Talking Points

Fulham dealt with Palhinha blow

Marco Silva is expected to not have a full squad to choose from, and their biggest loss on Monday is their influential midfielder, Joao Palhinha.

Palhinha is unavailable to play because he’ll serve a one-match suspension for getting his fifth yellow card this season during their 3-1 loss against Aston Villa.

He is currently the Cottagers’ top scorer with two goals, which says a lot. But other than that, he is known for being the player with the most tackles in the Premier League this 2023-24 season.

With 52 tackles (and counting), Palhinha is head and shoulders above the pack since Pedro Porro, who is second, only has 39. And in all of Europe, he is averaging the most tackles per game, with 5.2.

Fulham are definitely happy that Palhinha stayed since he almost went to Bayern Munich this summer. The Portuguese box-to-box midfielder, in fact, signed a lucrative extension that ties him at Craven Cottage until 2028 to signify his long-term commitment.

With Palhinha out, Marco Silva will likely have Harrison Reed or Tom Cairney join Alex Iwobi in their two-man midfield, although they have a much bigger problem, which is the lack of goals.

Sarabia proving his worth at Wolves

Pablo Sarabia is arguably the Man of the Match in the Wolves’ 2-1 win over Tottenham, as he had a hand in both of their stoppage time goals.

When Brennan Johnson scored for the Spurs after three minutes, Tottenham were content with parking the bus, but the Wolves are not to be denied because they dominated the game late.

Sarabia started the comeback with a superb volley, and then he teed up Mario Lemina a few minutes later with a cleverly placed pass to tap the ball into the far side of the net for the win.

This is the type of performance that Wolves fans have been waiting for from Sarabia, who joined the team during the January transfer window.

Wolves fans will tell you that Sarabia’s stint prior to two weeks ago has been underwhelming, so perhaps this is the plot twist that he needed to revive his career at Molineux.

History

Fulham and the Wolves have shared a couple of close battles throughout the years, which is why it’s crazy to learn that the former has won just one of their last 14 league games against the latter (D4, L9), which was a 2-0 result at home in a Championship game in February 2018.

And since securing their promotion to the English top-flight in 2018, the Wolves have yet to lose a single Premier League match against Fulham (W3, D3).

During that stretch, this particular fixture has only seen seven goals scored between these two sides, with the Wolves scoring five and the Cottagers notching two, and none of them have scored more than once in a match.

Marco Silva’s group has alternated between wins (2) and losses (3) in their last five Premier League home matches this season, including a 1-0 defeat against Manchester United last time out at Craven Cottage.

Betting Tip

Despite the fact that these two sides are trending in different directions, the SBOTOP Premier League 2023 odds predict that we’re going to have a close fight on Monday.

Fulham were given the slight edge at 2.38 odds, while the Wolves are priced at 2.72 to win, and a draw is at 3.20 in the 1X2 market.

While this could go either way, we feel that the Premier League 2023 highlights from this contest will come few and far between, which has been the case in their recent meetings. And this is the reason why we’re confident enough to suggest that Under 2.00 at 2.40 is your best bet, while Total Goal 0-1 at 2.88 is another offer worth looking at.

 

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