Town Face Fulham Looking to Extend 53-Year Unbeaten Run Saturday, 24th Dec 2016 06:00 Town go into the Boxing Day home game against Fulham looking to extend an unbeaten run stretching back precisely 53 years and aiming to record back-to-back wins for the first time this season. The Whites’ last victory over the Blues was their famous 10-1 win at Craven Cottage in the old First Division on Boxing Day 1963. Graham Leggat scored four (including a three-minute hat-trick, then the fastest in the top flight), Bobby Howfield three and future legendary Blues boss Bobby Robson, Maurice Cook and Alan Mullery one each as Fulham romped to what's still their record victory and the Blues' record defeat. Gerry Baker netted the only goal for Town. The Blues, who were managed by Jackie Milburn, restored some pride by beating the same opposition 4-2 at Portman Road two days later with Billy Baxter, Danny Hegan, Joe Broadfoot and Baker again on target, while Leggat grabbed another along with Johnny Key for the Whites. The Cottagers have gone 13 games in all competitions (nine in the league) without a win against the Blues. Their most recent win at Portman Road came in March of the same year when they beat Sir Alf Ramsey’s Town by a single goal. While the teams are unlikely share 11 goals as they did 53 years ago, Fulham’s recent matches have featured their fair share of goals. Their last away game ended in a 4-4 draw at Wolves and they drew 2-2 at home to Derby County a week ago. Town boss Mick McCarthy has been impressed with the Whites, who are ninth in the division, five points and six places above the 15th-placed Blues, having scored 38 goals, more than anyone else in the Championship aside from leaders Newcastle United, who have hit 45. By comparison Town have scored only 22 in the first 22 league matches. “They’re a good side,” McCarthy said. “[U23s coach] Gerard Nash went to watch them, he saw them live against Derby and they played very well, that was a two-all draw. They had a four-all draw with Wolves. “They’re a good side, they’re on the up certainly. We’ve watched two and a bit of their games and I’ve been very impressed with them.” He says the Londoners are looking a better prospect for promotion this year than in the previous two seasons following their May 2014 relegation from the Premier League. “When they came down in the first season everybody thought they would be one that were going to bounce back,” McCarthy reflected. “But they seemed to have such a turmoil and they’ve changed their manager two or three times.
“But with Slavisa Jokanovic, who got promoted with Watford, he had a tough start but he’s got them well organised now and I think they’ll be a threat for the play-offs, definitely.” McCarthy is looking for his side to build on last week’s 3-2 win at Wigan and record two wins on the trot for the first time since the final two games of last season. “Back-to-back wins would be terrific and it’s a long time since it’s happened,” he admitted. “It would be great, especially for the fans at home, of course.” McCarthy seems likely to stick with the 4-3-3 system in which the Blues started last week’s game at the DW Stadium with Bartosz Bialkowski in goal and a back four of, from the right, skipper Luke Chambers, Adam Webster, Christophe Berra and Jonas Knudsen. In midfield Cole Skuse will be in his usual holding role and Andre Dozzell seems likely to be handed his first home Championship start of the season. Jonny Williams’s absence for 12 weeks following surgery on the shoulder injury he sustained at Wigan means McCarthy will be forced into one change and Kevin Bru, who was impressive from the bench against the Latics, could start his first game since the Burton match in October, while Jonathan Douglas is another option with Teddy Bishop also sidelined with an ankle injury. McCarthy could stick with the same front three that started at Wigan with Tom Lawrence on the left, Freddie Sears on the right and Brett Pitman down the middle. Along with Bru, David McGoldrick and Grant Ward turned the game around after coming on as subs at Wigan but McCarthy hinted in his press conference that that doesn’t necessarily mean they will go into his starting XI on Monday. “[Wigan] took over the game after half-time and I had to change it and the subs all helped change the game. “But that’s what they’re there for, it doesn’t always mean to say they have to play the following week.” Fulham could recall Suffolk-born former Norwich striker Chris Martin, who was unavailable against his parent club Derby last week. Centre-half Tomas Kalas has been ruled out with a hamstring problem, while another central defender, Icelandic international Ragnar Sigurdsson, could miss out due to a knock which forced him off against the Rams. Cottagers’ boss Jokanovic says he and his squad will be treating the match as they would any other, despite having to train and travel on Christmas Day. “It’s an important family day but at the same time we are professional in this football business,” he told the official Fulham site. “We will have working days on the 24th and 25th to make sure we are ready for Boxing Day. “We will stay the night in Ipswich and we will have a similar schedule to that which we have for normal games. It’s a special day for all football fans and we have to be ready for the game.” In April at Portman Road, Jonas Knudsen scored an injury time equaliser, the Danish international’s first goal for the Blues, as Town and Fulham drew 1-1, Moussa Dembele having put the visitors ahead in the 66th minute. In December last year at Craven Cottage, Freddie Sears and Brett Pitman were on target as Town beat Fulham 2-1 to win a fourth away league game on the trot for first time in more than 11 years. Sears netted after just 16 seconds as the Blues made an explosive start, before Cottagers’ skipper Ross McCormack equalised with a freekick in the 14th minute, but Pitman secured the points when he turned in Sears’s cross on 57. Historically, the Blues have been victorious on nine occasions (six in the league), Fulham on eight (seven) and with eight (six) games ending in draws. Town are unbeaten in their last five Boxing Day fixtures, winning four, including last season’s 2-1 home win over QPR. In addition to the 1963 meeting, the Blues and Fulham also faced one another on Boxing Day in 1999 at Craven Cottage when the game ended 0-0. Ex-Town loanee Ryan Tunnicliffe, who was linked with a return to the Blues earlier in the week, joined the Cottagers in January 2014 from Manchester United after ending his spell at Portman Road early, while former midfielder Brian Talbot is the chief scout at Craven Cottage, where he briefly played late on in his career. Another ex-Blues loanee, Richard Stearman, remains a Fulham player but is on loan back with his former club Wolves for the season.
Boxing Day's community champion was due to be five-year-old Oliver Turner who is undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy having had a kidney removed after being diagnosed with a Wilms tumour in March. However, Oliver is not well enough to attend but skipper Luke Chambers called him on Boxing Day morning. TWTD Forum posters have clubbed together and have produced banners which will be on display at Portman Road during the game.
Monday’s referee is Oliver Langford from the West Midlands, who has shown 68 yellow cards and four red in 22 games so far this season. Langford’s most recent Town game was the 2-0 home victory over Burton Albion in which he booked Cole Skuse and two Brewers. Prior to that he was in charge of the 0-0 home draw with Charlton in April in which he yellow-carded Jonas Knudsen and two Addicks. He also took control of the 2-1 home defeat to Leicester in November 2013, in which he booked only Luke Chambers. The only other Town game he has refereed was the 2-0 defeat at Leeds in April of the same year when David Norris, by then with the Whites, was the only player cautioned. Squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers (c), Knudsen, Emmanuel, Kenlock, Webster, Berra, Skuse, Douglas, Bru, Dozzell, Ward, Lawrence, Varney, McGoldrick, Sears, Best, Pitman.
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