Coventry City's two-game winning run may have come to an end against Tottenham on Monday but there will still be plenty of optimism going into Saturday's meeting with Fulham.

Frank Lampard's side had a tough start on their return to the top flight, losing four games in a row without scoring.

But three of those fixtures were against the current top three (away at Manchester City and Arsenal, and at home to Brighton). Having now got points and goals on the board, their next two matches are against clubs currently in the relegation zone.

Coventry centre-back Bobby Thomas has been one of their standout players in this campaign. After 16 clearances against Newcastle – the second-most by a player in a match this season – he made a game-high seven at Tottenham, and tops the Premier League rankings for that metric.

But there wasn't much he could do against Spurs, where unusually all three of their goals came from outside the box, meaning the Sky Blues have conceded more than twice as many such goals as any other team in the Premier League this season.

After losing to Ipswich and beating Hull City in their past two Premier League games, Fulham now face the third of the Premier League newcomers in the shape of Coventry.

Fulham's win over Hull was their first Premier League victory under new head coach Alvaro Arbeloa and, even though they are in the relegation zone, the pressure has lifted a little off him for now.

It is perhaps unlucky for Fulham that it has taken this long to get that win, with their results not really representative of their performances.

They are averaging 57.2% possession and 492 successful passes per game in the Premier League this season, both their highest on record in a campaign (since 2003-04).

But they have not been clinical enough in turning their impressive numbers into goals. Fulham have had more touches in the opposition box than any other Premier League team this season, yet rank joint-15th for goals scored.

Only Tottenham and Nottingham Forest have a lower shot conversion rate in this season's Premier League. Even Alex Iwobi's winner last weekend needed a deflection and a goalkeeping error to squeeze into the net.