Seeking to build on their first Premier League win of the campaign, Fulham travel to the CBS Arena to face Coventry City on Saturday afternoon.

Both teams currently occupy a place in the bottom four of the top-flight table, with the Cottagers sitting just inside the relegation zone in 18th spot, one place and one point behind the Sky Blues in 17th.

Match preview

After securing their first two Premier League victories of the season against Nottingham Forest (1-0) and Newcastle United (4-1), Coventry were unable to make it three wins in a row on Monday, as they fell to a 3-1 away defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

Frank Lampard felt that the “nasty” scoreline did not reflect his team’s performance, but he was still “proud” of what he saw from his players and has now quickly shifted his attention to a Fulham outfit who will give the Sky Blues “different problems and expectations”.

Saturday’s contest will be just the third-ever top-flight meeting between Coventry and Fulham, and the first since the 1967-68 season when the Sky Blues failed to win both home and away fixtures (D1 L1).

Coventry have already suffered defeat in five of their seven Premier League matches since securing promotion, their most losses at this stage of a league campaign since 1996-97 (also five) – a season in which they avoided relegation on the final day.

Lampard will be keen to see his Sky Blues outfit rediscover their impressive home form from last season’s Championship title-winning campaign when they posted 17 wins out of 23.

Victories will certainly be targeted from Coventry's next three matches at the CBS Arena against fellow bottom-half sides Fulham, Sunderland and Crystal Palace as they bid to climb away from danger in the coming weeks.

At the seventh time of asking, under-pressure Alvaro Arbeloa claimed his first Premier League win as Fulham manager last weekend, as his side narrowly beat Hull City 1-0 at Craven Cottage.

Alex Iwobi’s first-half strike was enough for the Cottagers to pick up three “massive” points in a contest they dominated with 78% possession and a whopping 717 passes across the 90 minutes, while also preventing Hull from registering a single shot on target.

Fulham, who are three points worse off compared to this stage of last season, are now gearing up for their third successive fixture against a newly-promoted club, with their win over Hull taking place a week after a 2-1 defeat at Ipswich Town where they let a one-goal lead slip with only two minutes of normal time remaining.

The West London club travel to the CBS Arena this weekend winless in their last eight Premier League away matches, alternating between a draw (four) and defeat (four) each time; not since a 3-1 win at Sunderland in February have they picked up all three points on the road.

Fulham’s last league visit to Coventry ended in a 4-1 defeat in the 2020-21 Championship season, while their last away league triumph over the Sky Blues came back in November 1967 when they secured a 3-0 win in the old Division One.

Coventry City Premier League form:

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Fulham Premier League form:

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Team News

Coventry are still having to cope without injured quartet Aurele Amenda (calf), Josh Eccles (ankle), Luke Woolfenden (knee) and Haji Wright (quad), the latter two are yet to play for the Sky Blues this season.

Jack Rudoni is bidding to score in his third successive Premier League game after netting against Newcastle and Tottenham. The midfielder is set to continue in an advanced central role in front of captain Matt Grimes and either Caleb Yirenkyi or Frank Onyeka.

Taiwo Awoniyi and Ephron Mason-Clark are two strong candidates to earn a recall in attack, the former could replace Sidiki Cherif up front, while the latter will battle with Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Brandon Thomas-Asante for a place on either flank.

As for Fulham, Ryan Sessegnon will begin a three-match suspension following his red card in the closing stages of the win over Hull, while Hugo Larsson remains a doubt with a groin issue.

Captain Tom Cairney made his first appearance of the season as a substitute last time out after recovering from a long-term knee injury, but the midfielder is not expected to start ahead of either Sander Berge, Shea Charles or Joshua King on Saturday.

Arbeloa will weigh up whether to stick with Gonzalo Garcia, who has failed to score in any of his last six Premier League starts, or hand Rodrigo Muniz a rare start up front.

Coventry City possible starting lineup:

Rushworth; Van Ewijk, Thomas, Pinnock, Dasilva, Grimes, Onyeka; Thomas-Asante, Rudoni, Mason-Clark; Awoniyi

Fulham possible starting lineup:

Leno; Castagne, Affengruber, Bassey, Robinson; Berge, Charles; Bobb, King, Iwobi; Garcia

We say: Coventry City 2-1 Fulham

Five of Coventry’s last six home games have produced over 3.5 goals, while Fulham have found the net in seven of their nine matches across all competitions this term, suggesting plenty of goalmouth action could be in store on Saturday.

A close contest between two sides desperate to climb away from danger is anticipated at the CBS Arena, but we are backing the Sky Blues to rise to the occasion on home soil and pick up all three points.

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