FA Cup 4th Round – 28/01/2023, 3:00pm
Sunderland will be backed by almost 6,000 travelling fans at Craven Cottage on Saturday and they look primed to earn a replay in the capital.
Tony Mowbray has got the Black Cats moving in the right direction with just once defeat in their last seven games. They were 2-0 winners at home to Middlesbrough last time out and they are pushing their way to a second-half-of-the-season charge for the play-offs.
Mowbray will be without skipper Corry Evans for the rest of season with a knee injury. It means that the highly-rated Dan Neil will have to step up and measure his progress against the big boys in the Premier League.
Patrick Roberts will return to Fulham after leaving for Manchester City in 2015 and he will be eager to add to his three goals and four assists this season.
Sunderland have been better away from home this season and have not lost on the road since a 2-0 defeat at Blackburn in October.
Fulham, meanwhile, have lost back-to-back games against Newcastle and Spurs and have a derby game with Chelsea on the horizon next Friday.
Marco Silva really cannot afford to weaken his side too much after falling away in the second half to Spurs. Fulham were the better side for the first 45 minutes, but once Harry Kane scored the confidence seemed to slip away.
“Second half, I think we lost a bit of the energy, also a little bit of the dynamic. The setback is always difficult. Nine [Spurs] players were always behind the ball in their own half and we didn’t find the spaces, we didn’t find the gaps to create chances to equalise the game.” said Silva.
Sunderland will come with a more defensive mindset and Fulham will have to be patient against their Championship rivals.
The Cottagers failed to create enough chances against Spurs and if there is any hangover on Saturday, Sunderland are well enough drilled to dig in for a draw.
Key stats
- Fulham have seen over 2.5 goals in their last five home matches against Sunderland in all competitions
- Fulham have lost their last two games without scoring
- Sunderland have lost just one of their last seven games in all competitions
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