Fulham came back from two goals down to rescue a point against Blackpool at Craven Cottage on Wednesday night. It was the second successive draw for Kit Symons since he was appointed permanent manager last week. There’s no doubt the improvement that Symons has overseen since taking charge from Felix Magath back in September so it was only right he was afforded the chance to continue his work. Although things are a lot better and the team look much more competitive, Fulham do remain in the bottom four so there are plenty of difficult times ahead as they bid to avoid a second successive relegation.
Huddersfield are another side who are on to their second manager of the season with Chris Powell taking over from Mark Robins at the very beginning of September. He too has had a positive effect at his new club and they travel to London on a run of form which has seen them lost only once in their last eight games. That defeat came in their most recent game which was a five goal thriller against Derby. Powell will be challenging his players to go on a similar run as they look to continue their climb up the table. The immediate challenge is looking to increase – or at the very least maintain – the four point gap they have over Saturday’s opponents.
The recovery from 2-0 down would have been made all that sweeter for Symons and his players as it extended their unbeaten run in the Championship to five games. It’s their best run of form from that perspective since April 2013 and it’s one which they’ll be hoping continues for a while yet. It’s said every season but the nature of the Championship affords teams at the bottom end of the table in the early stages of a season the opportunity to reach the play-offs with a consistent run of results. Having been pre-season favourites for the league, you wouldn’t put it beyond the Cottagers to achieve that.
Although they’ve been a very good run recently, Huddersfield have managed to win only two of their eight away games this season. Both those wins have come against sides with very good home records in the shape of Wolves and Reading which illustrates their ability to compete with anybody on their day. They were outclass for periods against Derby but they showed great resilience right to the end and could even have sneaked a draw late on. The match against Fulham is made that extra bit harder on that of course, playing two difficult away games in the space of five days.
We should be set for an entertaining game as matches involving these sides average more than 3.2 goals per game. Fulham’s last four home games have seen 12 goals whilst Huddersfield last four away games have seen 13 goals. I expect a very similar story here so was surprised to see such attractive odds for over 2.5 goals.
Over 2.5 goals @ Ladbrokes
