please log in to view this image Saturday 18th August 3pm Premier League Wembley Stadium The repeated campaign opening resulted in the same 3 points and we're off the mark at the first time of asking. Now we face a side from Fulham in our temporary accommodation of Wembley in the second match. Hopefully history won't repeat itself this time and we can take something out of this game. An improved performance would be nice too, as a World Cup weary squad struggled at St James' Park. This will be Fulham's second match in London in this season, as they return to life in the Premier League. They've spent four years in the Championship, since their disastrous 2013/14 campaign. Martin Jol's time at the club slowly saw their results get worse and his sacking didn't help to steady things. Rene Meulensteen took over and made things worse, before he too was replaced. Felix Magath finished them off and then had a torrid time in the Championship, too. Slavisa Jokanovic was brought in to bring them back into the top-flight in December of 2015. Kit Symons had been struggling badly and another relegation was on the cards. The Yugoslavian international was already familiar with the Southeast of England. He'd played for Chelsea and had managed Watford, taking the Hornets into the Premier League earlier that year. A contract issue saw him leave Vicarage Road in the off-season, though. Jokanovic turned their fortunes around fairly quickly, avoiding the drop in his first year and then looking up. His first full season saw them finish in 6th place, resulting in a play-off defeat to Reading. His second saw them narrowly missing out on automatic promotion, but taking 3rd place comfortably. Wins over Derby and Villa sealed their place in the Premier League and another trip to Wembley. Fulham have spent quite a lot of money this summer and brought in a whole new team of players. Some will see this move as ambitious and hungry, while others will question the impact on the squad. Time will tell whether it was the right thing to do, but we may benefit while they bed in. Crystal Palace were happy to do so on Saturday. No equivalent fixtures last season, of course, but we have faced them under their current manager. The FA Cup 5th round of the 16/17 season saw us meet at Craven Cottage about a year and a half ago. Here are the highlights: No updates to our injury news at the moment, but Son will miss out due to his Asian Games participation. He's flown out to Malaysia and will probably be missing for several weeks. Neither side has any suspensions. Lineups for each side's last league game: Spurs: Lloris; Aurier, Sanchez, Vertonghen, Davies; Dier, Sissoko, Eriksen, Alli; Moura, Kane. Subs: Vorm, Walker-Peters, Alderweireld, Dembele, Amos, Son, Llorente. Fulham: Fabri; Christie, Chambers, Le Marchand, Bryan; Cairney, McDonald, Seri; Schurrle, Mitrovic, Sessegnon. Subs: Rico, Fosu-Mensah, Kebano, Johansen, Vietto, Cisse, Kamara. Referee: Anthony Taylor. Was the official for the aforementioned Chelsea game... TV: Not televised. We did enough to take the points in Newcastle, but was it enough to keep the same team starting? Would you change any of the starting XI or perhaps just the system or formation? Who should take Son's place on the bench?
I'm amazed that no Twitter reactionary is reading Fulham's loss to Palace as evidence that, when Fulham go down, we'll be signing Seri with the additional benefit of a year's worth of Premier League experience under his belt You get the feeling that I'm not too enamoured with the opinions of Twitter reactionaries...
I'm dreading that today's announcement might lead to a section of the crowd being pissed off and more than willing to let anyone with hearing know how pissed off they are for this match
Poch's suggested he might rotate the squad in the early games (which of course has nothing to do with them simultaneously being burned out from World Cup campaigns while also not being match fit due to several of the squad not featuring in pre-season) so I'm wondering if this means some of the players who started on the bench against Newcastle will be starting this one - Toby being the most obvious choice Hopefully we see Skipp get a spot in the squad, too
I am going to this...hoping to see a good game and for us to play well. I share your fear but I do think that while the club ain't got everything right no other club has done this type of ground change. Arsenal, Leicester and Southampton all moved to a new ground so started building earlier than May and so could meet their start deadline, while city and west ham moved into grounds built for athletics. Fans (in my opinion) should not get stroppy about this cos tbh **** happens...Wembley is crap enough with us lot lucky enough to go acting like plastic tarts. Hoping to an open free flowing game. COYS
Probably a good idea to avoid the club's official Twitter then, as it;s inundated with crap like this...
I'm going to this as well, does anyone have any suggestions on best pubs to go to before the match (and after)?
You looking to drink in close proximity or a train ride away? The Torch is probably the main pub at Wembley. Come out of Wembley Park station and chuck a left, it’s about a 3 min walk but prices are steep, like £5+ a pint and it get can really rammed. If a train ride away, me and the boys usually go to Sir John Oldcastle at Farringdon (2 mins walk from Farringdon station). It’s a spoons so cheap prices and you get a lot of Spurs in there. About 15 mins away from Wembley on the met line.
I'll be there too. I reckon it'll be a belter. Fulham can't defend, so it'll be all action. The worse things get, the more I'll support the team. No matter what the club does or doesn't do, my support for the shirt and the team is unconditional. Bad transfer window.....support MP and the boys. Problems with the stadium....same thing. If people want to make their dissatisfaction for issues known on line or after the game, fair enough but before and during a game is off limits for me. 3 points is what counts and making sure that we don't hurt our season.
Well that's feckin' jinxed it........ Seriously though, their game v Palace was entertaining and if we defend like we did against the Toon........ Edit: well said, by the way!
Cheers DH much appreciated Ideally would like to drink close but we will be up early, so probably go to where you recommended a little way away as I hate massive queues for a beer! Is there sky sports in the Wetherspoons showing the early fixture?
If it’s any help, the Torch might not get overly rammed for Fulham as I don’t think it’s gonna be a sellout at Wembley. As for the spoons, there’s definitely TV screens though I can’t remember if they’ve ever had early kick offs on before or not. They 100% have sky sports news as I was in there just a couple weeks back after I went with my best mate to get his engagement ring in Hatton garden and we had a few beers in there afterwards watching SSN.
