Fulham v Stoke City: If Stoke get beat, blame it on Dave!

All is not well at the Britannia Stadium if you read the Press. Tony Pulis has not been happy with the attitude of strikers Tuncay, Beattie or Dave Kitson and the second half of the season has largely been one to forget. This has not been the case for their hosts Fulham who have embarked on an astonishing season which will end with a Europa League Final slot on May 12. However, in the grand scheme of things there is not a lot riding on this game.

Fulham are safe and will have one eye firmly on the final next week while Stoke, who have been safe for ages, will no doubt be planning for next season already. Mind you, Fulham’s game against West Ham on Sunday was similar to this scenario and the home side edged a five-goal game. Could the fans see another glut of goals tonight? Maybe, but it’s highly unlikely to be from the visitors.

Stoke City have managed just one goal in their past four outings and haven’t scored at the Cottage for 14 years. And for those thinking about putting the Potters down for an away win don’t – they haven’t won there for 19 years. I guess all records are there to be broken but the form Fulham are in right now I don’t think it will be now.

Under-fire Stoke striker Dave Kitson has hit back at claims made by Pulis that he is petulant and precious and insists that he is being used as a scapegoat at the club. He told the media: “Cloudy in Stoke? That’s Kitson’s fault. The traffic’s terrible on the way to training? Blame Kitson for that too.” You can be sure that if Stoke do get beat tonight the former Reading marksman will be expecting the blame.

Fulham v Stoke City; Kick Off 8pm 05 May 2010

Prediction Panel
Our panel contains both Squarefootball writers and readers, the writers are marked: (sqf).

Dave Blackburn : 0 - 0
Chris Cox : 1 - 2
Graham Enwright : TBC
Sue Gardener : 1 - 0
Chris Goodwin : 1 - 2
Paul Grech (sqf) : TBC
Colin Illingworth (sqf) : 2 - 1
Hugh Larkin (sqf) : TBC
Peter Lee : 1 - 0
Don McMahon : 1 - 0
Antony Melvin (sqf) : 0 - 0
Paul O'Meara (sqf) : TBC
Dave Nash : 1 - 0
Stephen Orford (sqf) : TBC
Tony Ratton : 1 - 1
Peter Rendle : 2 - 1
Dan Taylor : 2 - 2
Andy Wakeman : 1 - 1
Isaac Williams : TBC
Mark Williams : 1 - 0

Panel Verdict

The Panel is slightly in favour of a Fulham win.

Home: 7; Draw: 5; Away: 2; TBC: 6.

* 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!