The 2021/22 English Championship season begins this weekend and there are two matches to be played on Sunday the 8th of August, including the meeting between Fulham and Middlesbrough.
The match will be played at Craven Cottage and both teams will begin the season with hopes of winning promotion to the Premier League.
The force is strong with this one! 🪄@Antonee_Jedi 🌪️#FFC pic.twitter.com/mR0A41qz9d— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) August 5, 2021
The force is strong with this one! 🪄@Antonee_Jedi 🌪️#FFC pic.twitter.com/mR0A41qz9d
Fulham were relegated from the Premier League last season having finished in 18th place on 28 points. They spent only four rounds of fixtures outside the relegation zone and having found themselves in 18th place in the 12th week of the season, Fulham remained there until the end of the campaign.
Scott Parker has since left the club and Marco Silva will be the manager heading into this season. Two players have been brought into the club, goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga from Tottenham Hotspur and attacking midfielder Harry Wilson from Liverpool. Silva suffered a disappointing time at Everton but will be hoping for better things in London.
Fulham have retained many of the players who were in the Premier League last season and fans are hopeful of an immediate return to the topflight. There will be a lot of expectation on the shoulders of striker, Aleksandar Mitrovic.
The Serbian international scored 26 goals when Fulham were promoted from the Championship in the 2019/20 campaign and he will be a big danger to the Middlesbrough defence in this game.
Middlesbrough finished last season in 10th place in the Championship on 64 points and will be hoping to use that as a springboard to at least reach the play offs this season.
Neil Warnock has enjoyed a full pre-season with the club and in the previous campaign, Middlesbrough showed they are capable of good results against the top teams away from home having picked up a point at Brentford and Norwich City.
Middlesbrough like to play using a direct style, meaning they will be getting the ball wide for crosses into the box and looking to win plenty of corners and free-kicks around the penalty area.
They have had a strong pre-season, with wins over mostly lower league opposition and Warnock will be hoping to take the positivity into this game.
Trends show Middlesbrough have seen under 2.5 goals in their last 7 meetings with Fulham in all competitions.
Looking ahead to the team news and Fulham are to set to hand a competitive debut to Gazzaniga in goal and Wilson in midfield. Mitrovic will play in attack and Fulham are also likely to start with Neeskens Kebano and Anthony Knockaert.
Middlesbrough could be without Anfernee Dijksteel and Marcus Browne due to injury. Former Wycombe forward Uche Ikpeazu could start in attack following the release of Britt Assombalonga.
Sammy Ameobi could also play in attack but has been struggling with injury.
This is a tough return to the Championship for Fulham and Middlesbrough could make life difficult for Silva.
We expect to see under 2.5 goals in this game and it could be the away side who make a strong start to the season by taking maximum points.