Tuesday results provide boost for both Fulham and Swansea promotion charges

Fulham have two home games in four days that could be vital in their quest to return to the Premier League. They and guests Swansea were given a boost by results elsewhere on Tuesday night.

Backdrop: Fulham (P 34-Pts 57) dropped three points against bottom club Barnsley. With away draws either side of that, they have dropped seven of their last nine points. Those draws at Millwall and Derby were not, out of context, bad results. They remain third but trail Leeds in the automatic promotion slot by five.

Swansea (P 34-Pts 51)  are similarly five points behind the final play off place, currently occupied by Preston who follow them to Craven Cottage in three days time. The Swans are ninth though and Bristol City and Blackburn must also be overcome if the West Glamorgan side are to reach the hallowed ground of the playoffs.

Last night’s results provided great cheer for both sides with three of the four fellow promotion candidates losing.

February 25th Results

Cardiff City 0 : 1 Nottingham Forest
Huddersfield Town 2 : 1 Bristol City
Luton Town 2 : 1 Brentford
Queens Park Rangers 2 : 1 Derby County
West Bromwich Albion 2 : 0 Preston North End

Nottingham Forest doused Cardiff’s hopes of keeping up with the pack and leapfrogged Fulham.

Bristol City, Brentford and Preston all lost though. Swansea can therefore move to seventh with a win and Fulham can pull away from the pack.

Form: 1-1 draws at Millwall and Derby out of context were good results for the Craven Cottage side. It was that hapless 0-3 defeat to bottom of the table Barnsley that made them look less helpful.

Not only does this match risk eliminating any chance of automatic promotion, a loss also invites Swansea onto their doorstep, reducing the margin to just three points.

Swansea beat Huddersfield 3-1 at the weekend but it was their second win in nine games and those ten points from 27 cause them to lose some ground on the promotion pack.

History: Fulham won the opening game 2-1 in South Wales in late November. Aleksandr Mitrovic put the Londoners two up before half time before George Byers pulled one back at the Liberty Stadium, in a game where Fulham did not win a single corner.

Fulham lead the overall series 32-24 with ten draws. At this stadium however, Swansea have a fantastic recent record.

They have won the last three encounters here, 2-1 (Nov 2013),  2-1 (Dec 2012) and 3-0 (March 2012). Fulham won the four encounters before that including a 7-0 FA Cup win in 1995.

Mick Conroy scored a hat trick while Duncan Jupp, Nick Cusack, Paul Brooker and Martin Thomas also scored. Swansea were a division above Fulham at the time.

Team News: Frenchman Aldo Kalulu made only his third appearance in the win over Huddersfield. He’s on loan from Swiss club FC Basel and many more performances might force Steve Cooper to look to make that deal permanent.

Wales Online reports that Nathan Dyer is 50/50 but the game has come too early for Wayne Routledge and Mike van der Hoorn.

Steve Cooper’s young guns face fellow promotion hopefuls Fulham

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