FULHAM v DERBY COUNTY
Monday 14th May 2018 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Football – England – Championship Betting Tips
Monday night brings us the crucial second leg clash between Fulham and Derby County in the semi-final play-offs in the Championship as Derby look to defend their 1-0 lead at Craven Cottage tonight.
Fulham huffed and puffed at the iPro Stadium but just couldn’t break down a resolute Derby County defence, but this could be a very different story in London this evening as Fulham now hold home advantage and are likely to throw the kitchen sink at The Rams in this second leg.
Fulham have lost back-to-back matches now on the road in the Championship as they also suffered a heavy 3-1 defeat away at Birmingham City on the final day of the season, but with a solid home record of 13-8-2 40/17 under their belts at Craven Cottage, the bookies have made Fulham short favourites.
Onto Derby County, and a first leg lead would have been everything manager Garry Rowett would have wished for as his side made the most of home advantage with the first leg 1-0 win at the iPros Stadium, while remaining solid at the back against a dangerous attacking Fulham unit.
Derby will now be desperate to hang onto this slender lead on Monday night, and the important thing for the visitors is that they have players like Cameron Jerome and Matej Vydra as attacking outlets to relieve the anticipated Fulham pressure that’s likely to be on them here. In addition, Rowett is likely to favour a 4-2-3-1 formation here in order to shore up his defence.
Derby’s recent results on the road suggests they’re very unlikely to win this second leg as they’ve picked up just one win from their last nine matches which was a 1-0 win at Preston North End in April, but they’ve drawn five of these last nine and another stalemate here would see them through to the play-off final at Wembley.
The pressure upon the hosts will be turned up to maximum as Fulham are expected to attack from the off here, but Derby have shown they can keep a clean sheet against The Cottagers, and I’m expecting another tight, low scoring affair here.
Pick: Under 2.5 @ 1.96 Marathonbet
