Premier League - Fulham FC vs Ipswich Town Preview & Matchday Thread

[Frosty]

Fulham v Ipswich Town



Sunday 5th Janurary 2025 – 14:00


Craven Cottage









Pre-Match Thoughts - Bluemike




What a great way to end 2024 ! At last we've done it, a Home Premier League win at the Tenth time of asking, and who would have thought it would come against One of the big Five in Chelsea, a Chelsea side who have been very good this season and had people talking them up as possible outside title contenders. I have to confess I did not expect it for One second, I was looking more at the likelihood of it being akin to the Newcastle debacle if I am being perfectly honest.

I see the prima dona's down Stamford Bridge way are blaming everything and anything for the cause of their defeat to little old Ipswich, the "worst" VAR decision of all time for the blatant dive by Liam Delap, a ridiculous offside call by VAR for their disallowed goal which would have stood, numerous decisions going against them, numerous chances missed while we rode our luck throughout to somehow go away with a jammy win, you couldn't make it up, they certainly saw a different game to me. I felt we thoroughly deserved the win and the Three points, of course they were going to dominate possession and create chances, they are a Champions League standard side after all.

I felt on this occasion Kieran and the Boys got it spot on in every way, the starting line up with a certain Nathan Broadhead returning and putting in a super effort, and out of favour Luke Woolfenden back in the Defence, a defence which looked so much stronger and solid, also a brave call to bring in Christian Walton between the sticks as opposed to calamity Muric, Wes Burns in the Right Wing back role also proved to be a good call as Wes turned in probably his best performance of the season by some distance.

I think it goes without saying the formation is spot on, the Three at the back definitely suits the players more as Arsenal & Chelsea have found out, clearly it may not always be the way to go but I hope this becomes our go to Formation most of the time. We created chances and played to certain players strengths, none more so than our inspirational talisman Liam Delap.

I have to say I thought Delap's performance was outstanding, the Match of the day boys would still be on air now if it was Haaland or Kane, it was world class. Mick Mills even described it as probably the best Centre Forward display he has seen at Portman Road and when you think he played with the legend that is Paul mariner that is quite some compliment. The guy is Twenty One and an absolute beast, he bullied class defenders, out muscled them, out paced them, wrong footed them and generally turned them inside out, he won the penalty, scored the penalty, set up Omari's goal and went on several lung busting runs in a performance that I absolutely loved, a 10/10 performance for me.

Of course most importantly was the Three points because it has hauled us right back into contention and firmly back in the race, it is amazing what One unexpected result can do, not only for the league standing but for confidence, belief and expectation that we can mix it with most in this league. I still think it will be tough but prior to the Chelsea I honestly felt the damage was done and while that may still prove to be the case I cannot help but feel that maybe Kieran can pull off his biggest masterstroke yet, however, if it is to happen we need a couple more big surprises along the way.

Finally I have to mention the atmosphere in Portman Road on Monday evening, it was electric, really loud and so very supportive of what the boys were doing on the pitch, when that second goal from Omari went in it just totally erupted in a crescendo of noise that seemed to go on forever. I think we would have drowned out most fans on the night but it wasn't hard to drown out the Chelsea fans who quite frankly were a joke all night, they came expecting a walk in the park and got spanked, after delap the highlight for me at the full time whistle was a chorus of "you've seen the Ipswich now f**k off home", love it.

To fully benefit from the super win against Chelsea we just have to gain some momentum and back it up, going another Four or Five games without a win won't be good enough. Next up we have a trip to Craven Cottage to take on a very impressive Fulham side, the Cottagers currently sit in Eighth place having only lost Four times all season, they are unbeaten in their last Seven, a run which includes games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool & Spurs so they are certainly no mugs and will be a real test for Town, on the flip side they were held by Southampton and beaten by Wolves recently so they can have their off days too.

Back in August Town secured their first point of the season with a 1-1 draw at home to the Londoners but for me it was a game which we could so easily have won, yes they had chances too but by the close I think we had done enough to have merited the points, a repeat of that day will give us every chance, I think it is clear they have improved somewhat since then but then again so have we, we are learning and developing, albeit slowly, to the rigours of the Premier League, these are probably the type of games where should be picking up the odd point here and there, following this game we have Two home games against Brighton & Manchester City, I would suggest Four points from those Three games is our minimum requirement, that would represent a decent outcome to keep us firmly in the survival mix.

I have renewed hope following Monday that we can get something here, if Delap is anywhere near the form of that last game we have every chance, these are not Arsenal or Chelsea but they are very good, we need not fear it, we can go and express ourselves like we did in the last game, playing away is tough but it does lend itself to us being afforded more chances with the home side having the onus on them to come out and play, they may just play into our hands. I am edging towards a low scoring draw here which will do very nicely. COYB'S. Happy New year.


The Opposition – Fulham FC - Honours


League

Second Division / First Division / Championship

Champions: 1948–49, 2000–01, 2021–22
Runners-up: 1958–59
Play-off winners: 2018, 2020

Third Division South / Third Division / Second Division

Champions: 1931–32, 1998–99
Runners-up: 1970–71
Promoted: 1981–82

Third Division

Runners-up: 1996–97


Cup


FA Cup

Runners-up: 1974–75

UEFA Europa League

Runners-up: 2009–10

UEFA Intertoto Cup

Winners: 2002



The Manager – Marco Silva








League Table as at 02.01.2025







Form Guide




Fulham FC



8 Dec Fulham 1 - 1 Arsenal

14 Dec Liverpool 2 - 2 Fulham

22 Dec Fulham 0 - 0 Southampton

26 Dec Chelsea 1 - 2 Fulham

29 Dec Fulham 2 - 2 Bournemouth





Ipswich Town



8 Dec Ipswich Town 1 - 2 Bournemouth

14 Dec Wolverhampton 1 - 2 Ipswich Town

21 Dec Ipswich Town 0 - 4 Newcastle Utd

27 Dec Arsenal 1 - 0 Ipswich Town

30 Dec Ipswich Town 2 - 0 Chelsea





Head to Head







Match Referee – Darren Bond







FULHAM 1 IPSWICH TOWN 1

[Blue Wilf]

Draw for me would be a good result. However, if we play like we did on Monday and can catch them on the break then a sneaky away win is not out of the question. Here's hoping! COYB's!

[The Odious Mr Rossi]

Fulham have so much flair going forwards that I just cannot see them not scoring at least once.

So the question is, can we match their scoring? Stick with 3 at the back and I think the answer will be yes.

Fulham 2 - Ipswich 2

[valleyroad]

Fulham are beatable but realistically a draw would be decent.
Got to start finding a bit of momentum off the back of Chelsea result.

[ITFC2024]

This is a difficult one. Obviously, it will be fantastic to continue the momentum after Chelsea, but it won't be easy. Fulham are undefeated in their last seven matches, including a 0-0 draw with Southampton at home.

There's also the possibility of tired legs after the festive period, but of course Fulham will also be affected. I don't see us replicating the energy and intensity of the Chelsea match, so we'll have to be solid in defence. I really hope Walton keeps his place because he's so much more sensible than Muric, and I think the defence benefits from that. We'll need a formation that inhibits Fulham's ball movement especially in midfield.

I'm not sure how successful Delap will be...Fulham have a few physically strong defenders.

Fulham 1 v 1 ITFC

[shabba]

Im going to this with my young son, albeit not in the away end sadly.

Will be a tough game, would certainly take a draw but Fulham have been in really good form and look better than the side we faced earlier this season at Portman Road.

[Ricco]

Fulham have so much flair going forwards that I just cannot see them not scoring at least once.

But they've scored 10 fewer than Chelsea this season and we kept them out! So hopefully we'll go with the same formation again as I'm sure we will, finally, thankfully, surely.

It's a big ask to get much or anything from the game, but what a huge one it would be to pressure on those ahead of us and get a run and some swagger going.

[Bluemike]

Walton confirmed as starting

[ITFC2024]

Walton confirmed as starting

Brilliant! Where did you see that?

[Bluemike]

KM said it in his interview

[MasseyFerguson]

A draw would be a fantastic result. On their day, Fulham are a real handful, but they can be exposed. Their loss at home to Wolves is a prime example. Every point is gold dust at this stage of the season.

[Ricco]

KM said it in his interview

But did he say in which position?

[Bluemike]

KM said it in his interview

But did he say in which position?

[Charnwood]

Walton confirmed as starting

Surely he couldn’t think of dropping him after our clean sheet and win against Chelsea.

[JohnnyB]

No Omari! Must be injured

[hallamblue]

Team…

https://x.com/ipswichtown/status/187588 ... 6&t=ZXuE7R

No Omari today….

[Bluemike]

Not in squad so must have a knock or sickness.

Not keen on Johnson for Burns after Wes played so well against the cry babies

[Bluemike]

I've just read there's been a bit of illness in the camp and Omari went down with it yesterday.

[Ricco]

Maybe Burns has a touch of whatever that is too?

And what about Luongo, he's been down as ill, but it's been about 2 weeks now? Maybe more... I guess there is no further detail on that?!

[Ricco]

We could move up to 16th today. Come on Town

[Bluemike]

Clearly incorrect then as KM says Omari has a groin strain

[Charnwood]

Clearly incorrect then as KM says Omari has a groin strain

Hopefully not caused by his goal celebration

[hallamblue]

We're just about at the peak of this flu virus in the UK. So many people are unwell with thdt or other viruses, so not dutorised there's illness in the camp. Fully expect Godfrey to go down with it now he's back in the uk too.

[Bluemike]

Yep, pretty grim at the hospital atm.

[JohnnyB]

Smash and grab par excellence!

[TODD66]

Get in!

1-0 Sammy S

[Bluemike]

Not quite sure how we are ahead at the break, been a repeat of Arsenal really but we've defended really well so far.

Fulham have some quality but finding it tough to break us down, we have looked dangerous on the break Two or Three times though and the goal was well taken..

The defence has been very good, Broadhead and Delap are linking up well and the workrate of Szmodics has been superb. For me though Ben Johnson has been our best player, some excellent defending and his positional play has been top notch.

[Bluemike]

Oh and Leif Davis should be off, very lucky.

[Cabanas Blue]

Both sky pundits saying yellow for Leif surprisingly even Keane.

[Charnwood]

Oh and Leif Davis should be off, very lucky.

Not lucky at all Mike, under the rules of the game it was absolutely the right decision. In my opinion a brilliant away team defensive performance which maybe hard to repeat in the second half.