{"id":557306,"date":"2020-07-10T00:00:07","date_gmt":"2020-07-10T04:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonfootball.com\/?p=557306"},"modified":"2020-08-21T12:09:36","modified_gmt":"2020-08-21T16:09:36","slug":"fulham-host-cardiff-city-in-play-off-chasing-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2020\/07\/10\/fulham-host-cardiff-city-in-play-off-chasing-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"Fulham Host Cardiff City in Play-Off Chasing Battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fulham<\/a> host Cardiff City<\/a> at Craven Cottage on Friday night, in what will be a pivotal game in the race for the play-offs. A win for the home side would see them climb above Brentford and into third place, while a win for the Bluebirds would create a four-point cushion between them and seventh-placed Swansea City.<\/p>\n

Play-Off Race Heats Up As Cardiff City Travel to Fulham<\/h2>\n

Fulham: Grinding Out Results<\/h3>\n

After a slow restart, Scott Parker’s side have finally found their form.<\/p>\n

Results have not been been pretty, but the Cottagers have earned nine points from their last three games. All three wins have come by a single goal.<\/p>\n

A 96th minute winner saw them snatch three points from Birmingham City. Having dominated for much of the game, Fulham finally scored late on through a late Josh Onomah<\/a> strike.<\/p>\n

Tuesday evening also saw them collect an impressive three points away from home at play-off rivals Nottingham Forest. Are Scott Parker’s side hitting form at the right time, with four games of the season to play.<\/p>\n

Bluebirds Looking to Bounce Back From Defeat<\/h3>\n

Neil Harris’ Cardiff suffered their first defeat since the Championship’s restart on Tuesday evening at home to Blackburn Rovers.<\/p>\n

In a game of few chances, the Bluebirds went into half-time ahead, thanks to goals from Will Vaulks<\/a> and Robert Glatzel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, second half goals from Dominic Samuel<\/a> and Adam Armstrong<\/a> sealed an impressive away win for the visitors.<\/p>\n

Team News<\/h3>\n

Scott Parker remained coy with team news ahead of the visit of Cardiff.\u00a0The Fulham boss only confirmed that attacking midfielder Tom Cairney<\/a> will be unavailable.<\/p>\n

\u201cTom\u2019s still struggling at the moment, he won\u2019t be available for tomorrow,” he said.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s day to day really with Tom, the problem is that the games are literally only two or three days [apart]. The turnaround is pretty quick.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a big one, it\u2019s not one which we\u2019re too concerned about, but the dynamics of the division and the games schedule means you\u2019re missing games with just a week\u2019s injury, or a 10 day injury you can be missing three or four games.<\/p>\n

Cardiff boss Harris stressed that the quick turnaround in fixtures is likely to dictate his team selection.<\/p>\n

He said<\/a>: “It\u2019s a quick turnaround from Tuesday to Friday so we\u2019ll look at the lads who haven\u2019t been on the grass so far and whether they can go again on Friday night. There\u2019ll be a few late calls who picked some bits up and we\u2019ll make a late call on team selection tomorrow afternoon.”<\/p>\n

Key Battles<\/h3>\n

Aleksandar Mitrovic<\/a> is likely to cause problems for the visitors defence.<\/p>\n

The Serbian has not featured for Fulham since their 3-0 defeat to Leeds United; however, he remains the top scorer in the division.<\/p>\n

Prediction<\/h3>\n

Cardiff will no doubt be the underdogs at Craven Cottage. Fulham have one of the best records at home in the division, and will be wanting to keep up their chase for the automatic promotion spots.<\/p>\n

Fulham 2-1 Cardiff City<\/strong><\/p>\n

Main Photo
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>