Fulham vs Aston Villa: Cottagers look to stop slide into danger
Tenth plays seventh in a game that sounds a bit mid-table - but, in terms of points, Fulham are closer to the relegation zone than they are to Aston Villa.
Fulham need to pull out of their downturn of form or they could start to fall down the division quite quickly as Sunderland have - the Black Cats are only four points worse off than the Cottagers. Fulham haven't won in the league since beating Manchester United and have lost the last four league games. To pep things up Roy Hodgson will make a late transfer move after selling the promising Chris Smalling, who, incidentally, started the losing run by conceding a decisive own-goal against Chelsea in December.
Villa start this game four points behind Tottenham who are in that coveted fourth place - but with a game in hand. So despite a series of lacklustre recent results Villa are still very much in with a shout. Are Villa becoming a cup team? The last two cup outings saw 3-2 and 6-4 wins, yet Villa haven't scored a single goal in the last three league games all of which were at home. Villa always look more comfortable as a counter-attacking side and an away game against a Fulham side that always attack at home may well be a good fixture for the Villans.
Fulham vs Aston Villa; Kick Off 3:00pm 30 Jan 2010
Prediction Panel
Our panel contains both Squarefootball writers and readers, the writers are marked: (sqf).
Dave Blackburn : TBC
Chris Cox : TBC
Graham Enwright : 1 - 1
Sue Gardener : 1 - 2
Chris Goodwin : 2 - 1
Paul Grech (sqf) : TBC
Colin Illingworth (sqf) : 1 - 1
Hugh Larkin (sqf) : TBC
Peter Lee : 1 - 1
Don McMahon : 1 - 2
Antony Melvin (sqf) : 1 - 2
Paul O'Meara (sqf) : TBC
Dave Nash : 0 - 1
Stephen Orford (sqf) : TBC
Tony Ratton : 1 - 1
Peter Rendle : 2 - 2
Dan Taylor : TBC
Andy Wakeman : 1 - 1
Isaac Williams : TBC
Mark Williams : TBC
Panel Verdict
The panel is split, the consensus going for a 1-1 draw.
Home: 1; Draw: 6; Away: 4; TBC: 9.
* Do we have it right, or do you know better? Please don't bother with derisory comments on the predictions after the match - unless you also pulled us up before it!
