Fulham vs Newcastle United Preview

Newcastle will travel to Craven Cottage this Saturday to face Fulham in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

The hosts come into this tie on the back of a disappointing semi-final elimination from the EFL Cup at the hands of Liverpool. Despite their best efforts over the two legs, Marco Silva’s side could not outdo Jürgen Klopp’s outfit, succumbing to a 3-2 aggregate loss.

The first leg at Anfield saw them lose 2-1 despite scoring first, while they came from a goal down to battle Liverpool to a 1-1 draw in the second leg in midweek at Craven Cottage.

That draw extended their winless run to three games in all competitions (D1, L2) with all three games coming against top-level opposition in Chelsea and Liverpool. Therefore they will be confident of bouncing back here especially as they play at home where they have won five times and lost just once in their last seven games (D1).

Yet the hosts have a poor record at this stage of the FA Cup having progressed beyond the fourth round just once across the last six seasons. That exception happened to be last year, though, when they reached the quarter-finals before being eliminated by eventual finalists Manchester United.

Still, another factor that puts them at a disadvantage here is their recent record against Newcastle as Fulham are winless in their last seven H2Hs (D2, L5) and have lost the last four.

Meanwhile, Newcastle will be desperate to win here and continue their run in this competition as it serves as their only shot of a title this season. The Magpies have been eliminated from the UEFA Champions League and EFL Cup and are nowhere near the top of the league table after suffering four successive league defeats heading into this match.

But a persistently long injury list and the prospect of having to sell key players if they’re to invest in the squad means that spirits are unusually low on Tyneside. Yet, their recent record at Craven Cottage should give them a huge morale boost as the Magpies have won on their last three visits, scoring ten goals in the process and conceding just one.

The visitors have only got past the FA Cup fourth round once in the last 17 campaigns though, something they will be looking to address along with their poor record in the capital this season, which has so far seen them fail to record a victory in three attempts.