Preview: Fulham vs. Sheffield United - prediction, team news, lineups

The Cottagers fell to a West London derby beating at the hands of Chelsea on Monday, while the Blades' misery continued in a two-goal defeat to West Ham United.

Match preview

Since being put to the sword at Craven Cottage in the 2022-23 season, Chelsea have remained entrenched in the bottom half of the standings - despite splashing the cash like nobody's business - and Fulham were ostensibly renewing hostilities with their West London adversaries at the perfect time.

However, Mauricio Pochettino's men killed the game off within the first 20 minutes, as Mykhaylo Mudryk latched onto Levi Colwill's slick pass for his maiden Premier League goal in Chelsea blue, just one moment before Armando Broja benefitted from a fortunate deflection off Tim Ream to double the visitors' tally.

Things nearly went from bad to worse for Fulham in the second half as Ian Maatsen's effort rattled the frame of the goal, and despite besting Chelsea on the possession front - 56% to 44% - Marco Silva was left to lament costly defensive mistakes and his side's "passive" first-half approach.

Owing to Monday's beating, Fulham have slipped below their West London rivals in the table - now occupying an unlucky 13th place - and defeat to the Blues ended a three-game winning run at Craven Cottage, with two of those successes coming in the EFL Cup.

While Silva has emphasised the need to cut out sloppy defensive play, Fulham could do with a dash of attacking inspiration, as the Cottagers have now failed to score in back-to-back Premier League games and only have two strikes to show from their last 360 minutes of top-flight football.

In fact, Fulham's meagre total of five goals this season is the joint-worst attacking record in the division alongside the bottom two sides in Bournemouth and Sheffield United, the latter of whom travelled to the London Stadium last weekend still reliving their excruciating 8-0 embarrassment at the hands of Newcastle United.

Thankfully for Paul Heckingbottom and the travelling Blades faithful, there was to be no repeat of that record-breaking obliteration against West Ham, but Sheffield United still fell short as expected - Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek's goals condemned the visitors to a sixth Premier League loss of the season.

Only 19th-placed Bournemouth have also gone seven Premier League games without achieving a maximum points haul this term, leading to inevitable speculation surrounding the safety of Heckingbottom's job, but there are not thought to be any plans to give the manager the boot just yet.

Nevertheless, talk of a possible managerial shake-up will only grow louder should Heckingbottom fail to pull the Blades out of their rut, which has seen them lose each of their last three Premier League contests while conceding 19 goals in total - an average of 2.7 per game.

However, Sheffield United subjected Fulham to a pair of Championship beatings in the 2021-22 season before the Cottagers returned to the big time, prevailing 1-0 in the English capital before a 4-0 Bramall Lane hiding in May 2022, by which point Silva's side had already been crowned champions.

Fulham Premier League form:

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Sheffield United Premier League form:

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Sheffield United form (all competitions):

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Team News

One positive from Fulham's loss to Chelsea was that the Cottagers ended the game without any fresh injury concerns, and Sasa Lukic was able to make a cameo appearance off the bench following a recent knee injury.

However, Kenny Tete's unspecified problem did not let up in time for him to take part in the derby, and he remains uncertain for this weekend too, while Tosin Adarabioyo (groin) and Adama Traore (thigh) represent the hosts' only other two fitness concerns.

An improved second-half showing against Chelsea could see Silva reward the likes of Alex Iwobi and Carlos Vinicius with starts this week, although the latter was perhaps a touch fortunate to escape without so much as a caution after appearing to elbow his compatriot Thiago Silva.

In contrast, the Sheffield United physios are once again taking care of John Egan, who was forced off just before the hour mark at the London Stadium and was pictured leaving the stadium on crutches, leading Heckingbottom to admit that his ankle issue does not look good.

Should Egan miss out here as expected, Chris Basham should get the nod over Auston Trusty to start in the Blades' back three, while Daniel Jebbison (illness), Ben Osborn (groin), Max Lowe (ankle), George Baldock (calf), William Osula (muscle) and Rhys Norrington-Davies (thigh) are all expected to sit this one out as well.

John Fleck is also touch-and-go owing to his recent calf trouble, but Heckingbottom still possesses some competent options for change, namely Tom Davies and Anis Slimane, both of whom made their presence felt off the bench against West Ham.

Fulham possible starting lineup:

Leno; Castagne, Diop, Ream, Robinson; Reed, Palhinha; Wilson, Pereira, Iwobi; Vinicius

Sheffield United possible starting lineup:

Foderingham; Ahmedhodzic, Basham, Robinson; Bogle, Hamer, Souza, McAtee, Thomas; Archer, McBurnie

We say: Fulham 1-0 Sheffield United

Still yet to fill the Aleksandar Mitrovic-shaped void, a shot-shy Fulham should not be expected breach Sheffield United at will this weekend, no matter how shaky Heckingbottom's rearguard has been against Premier League opposition.

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