Fulham and Wolves will face off in one of the Premier League week ten encounters fixed for late November. It is no longer early days in the 2024-25 season, so the table is fast taking shape and a lot of the teams are making their intentions known with almost one-third of the season gone.
The two teams have been regulars around the midtable and they might be looking to finish at a level higher than that at the end of the campaign.
As of the time of writing, Wolves are bottom of the log with just a point after seven games, while Fulham are 8th after three wins and two draws from their opening seven games of the season. Without any doubt, the home side is in better shape than their visitors and this could determine the outcome of this fixture.
Fulham have already racked up some wins in the Premier League this season. The Cottagers have beaten Newcastle United and Leicester City as of the time of writing, while they have lost twice this campaign – Manchester United and Manchester City.
As for Wolves, they have not done much this campaign as they are struggling to get points under their belt. Wolves have lost six of their seven opening games – Chelsea, Arsenal, Newcastle, Liverpool, Brentford and Aston Villa.
In the transfer market, the Cottagers lost influential Portuguese midfielder João Palhinha to Bayern Munich, Tosin Adarabioyo also left the club as a free agent after the expiration of his contract, while a loyal servant of the club – Bobby De Cordova-Reid – moved on to newly promoted Premier League side Leicester City. Midfielder Tyrese Francois also left London for League One club Wigan.
In return, just before the transfer window came to a close, Fulham raided a few London clubs to make some signings. Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith Rowe arrived from Arsenal, Joachim Andersen from Palace, and Ryan Sessegnon returned to the club on a free transfer from Tottenham. Jorge Cuenca and Sander Berge arrived from Villarreal and Burnley respectively.
On the other hand, Wolves made some personnel changes. Rodrigo Gomes arrived from Braga, André from Fluminense, Sam Johnstone from Crystal Palace, Pedro Lima from Sport Recife, Tommy Doyle from Manchester City, and Jørgen Strand Larsen arrived on a loan deal from Celta de Vigo. Meanwhile, Max Kilman made a big-money move to West Ham United as well as Pedro Neto who left for Chelsea, and Daniel Podence moved to Saudi Arabia.
Gary O’Neill did a good job at Wolves last season and the club’s management were pleased with his efforts and duly rewarded him with a new deal ahead of this particular campaign.
Chairman Jeff Shi said: “I think Gary is a key member of the team, maybe even the most important member, so we are very happy to have him here for the long term. The team together – me, Gary, [sporting director] Matt Hobbs, and all the staff – we are working very closely to prepare for the new season. Gary is key and we are happy to have a very young, talented, capable, and outstanding manager here,” Shi said.
However, seven games into the new season, they have struggled to a great length with just a point to their name and six defeats. The owners will not be pleased with what they have seen so far, but the lack of quality players in attack has left them in a tight corner weeks into the new season. Unless they make a drastic change, they are in for the relegation fight this season.
Fulham and Wolves have played 26 Games since 2003. Among them, Fulham won 4 games, Wolves won 13 and drew 9. Based on history, Wolves should take this one ordinarily but their current form, as at the time of writing, is nothing to write home about.
Match tickets
The epic match at Craven Cottage in Fulham kicks off on Saturday, November 23rd, 2024, at 16:00 GMT.
The 25,700-capacity stadium will host this clash between two teams aiming to make a strong run in the season’s early stages.
Getting tickets for the Fulham vs Wolves tickets could take a lot of work given the standard of this game. Hence, you are advised to search ticket reselling sites should they be expectedly sold out on each club’s channels.
Team news
Line-ups
As of the time of writing, Carlos Vinicius and Jorge Cuenca remain the only injured players in Fulham’s ranks. That said, the Cottagers should start with almost the same team that started most of the games so far this season.
Pereira, who has been given a more central role since the arrival of Smith Rowe from Arsenal, should sit alongside Lukic to orchestrate things in the middle of the park. Iwobi and Traore – who have made solid starts to the season – have roles to play in this particular encounter and barring any injuries, Raul Jimenez – who has found his form back – should lead the line for the home side in this encounter.
Fulham: Leno, Robinson, Bassey, Andersen, Tete; Lukic, Iwobi, Pereira, Traore, Smith Rowe; Jimenez.
Wolves do have several players out injured like Boubacar Traore (knee), Yerson Mosquera (knee), Sasa Kalajdzic, Leon Chiwome, and a host of others. Others with minor injuries are all expected to make a return to the team. However, the manager will hope that the other fit players in the team can get things done.
Wolves XI: Johnstone; Semedo, Bueno, Toti, Ait-Nouri; Andre, Cunha, Lemina, Gomes, Bellegarde; Larsen.
Prediction
Fulham have an excellent team and they have a strong squad that can challenge any team in the Premier League topflight. They went head-to-head with Manchester City back in October and could have taken at least a point if they were good with their finishing.
Meanwhile, Wolves are up against it, morale is down and performance is nothing to write home about. They will need to raise their game if they want to maintain their dominance against the Cottagers.
Fulham 2-1 Wolves
