Key events
13 min The Fulham supporters break into applause in tribute to Zach Little, a 13-year-old fan who died tragically last week.
9 min Morsy clips the free-kick beyond the far post towards Davis, whose volley back across is cut out. Ipswich regain possession and Davis curls a gorgeous cross that just evades the lunging Szmodics in front of goal. Davis’s left foot has been to Harvard.
8 min Delap turns Lukic 25 yards from goal and is pulled back. Sam Morsy is over the ball…
6 min Fulham are dominating possession. They’re a nice team to watch: fluent and methodical with intelligent movement off the ball.
4 min Timothy Castagne wins the ball high up the field, a perfect excuse to dust off an old favourite.
2 min Both teams have started with a back three as expected. Szmodics is playing as the right-sided No10 for Ipswich with Broadhead on the left.
1 min Fulham, in white, kick off from left to right. Ipswich are wearing their pink change strip due to a clash between football tradition and commercial imperatives. After approximately 1.5 seconds, Delap runs straight into Lukic off the ball and sends him flying. I suspect he knew what he was doing but it wasn’t bad enough for VAR to get involved.
There are no issues with an icy pitch but it still looks like a miserable day at Craven Cottage; the TV cameras are dotted with rainy freckles.
A reminder of the teams
Fulham (possible 3-4-2-1) Leno; Diop, Andersen, Bassey; Castagne, Cairney, Lukic, Robinson; Wilson, Iwobi; Jimenez.
Substitutes: Benda, Cuenca, Sessegnon, Pereira, King, Smith Rowe, Traore, Godo, Muniz.
Ipswich (possible 3-4-2-1) Walton, O’Shea, Woolfenden, Greaves, Johnson, Morsy, Cajuste, Davis; Szmodics, Broadhead; Delap.
Substitutes: Muric, H Clarke, Burgess, Townsend, Phillips, Taylor, Burns, J Clarke, Al-Hamadi.
Referee Darren Bond.
Kieran McKenna has confirmed that Omari Hutchinson injured his groin during the win over Chelsea. Conor Chaplin is also unavailable so Sam Szmodics or Nathan Broadhead will play as the right-sided No10.
“This is a tasty-looking match,” says Jeremy Boyce, “should win v must win. Fulham can coat-tail Villa and City with three points today, while for all their recent heroics, the Tractors are still in deep doo-doo.
“Win today and they leapfrog Wolves and Everton out of the drop zone. Lose today and that will add to the pressure on their future programme. Players on both sides making waves with their great performances (Robinson/Delap), may the better team win! (Or possibly settle for a point.)”
“It’s all very well talking about Fulham’s aspirations,” says Richard Hirst, “but this is Fulham we’re talking about.
“Record this season:
Versus top five W3 D2 L0 Pts 11
Versus bottom five W1 D3 L1 Pts 6
“How Fulhamish is that? And where are Ipswich in the table? So what is the likely outcome?”
You’re a big man, and you’re in good shape
Team news: Hutchinson out
Marco Silva makes one change to the Fulham side that drew with Bournemouth last year. Tom Cairney is preferred to Andreas Pereira in midfield.
Kieran McKenna makes two changes to the Ipswich XI that beat Chelsea so thrillingly. Ben Johnson and Sammie Szmodics replace Wes Burns and the (presumably) injured Omari Hutchinson.
Fulham (possible 3-4-2-1) Leno; Diop, Andersen, Bassey; Castagne, Cairney, Lukic, Robinson; Wilson, Iwobi; Jimenez.
Substitutes: Benda, Cuenca, Sessegnon, Pereira, King, Smith Rowe, Traore, Godo, Muniz.
Ipswich (possible 3-4-2-1) Walton, O’Shea, Woolfenden, Greaves, Johnson, Morsy, Cajuste, Davis; Szmodics, Broadhead; Delap.
Substitutes: Muric, H Clarke, Burgess, Townsend, Phillips, Taylor, Burns, J Clarke, Al-Hamadi.
Referee Darren Bond.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Fulham v Ipswich at Craven Cottage. It should be a fun game between two excellently coached teams who are full of confidence after a recent win over Chelsea.
Fulham have realistic aspirations of playing European football for the first time since 2011-12; a win today would move them ahead of Aston Villa into eighth place, only two points behind Manchester City in sixth.
We all know Ipswich’s target: 17th place and another season in the Premier League. Victory at Craven Cottage would lift them even higher, above Wolves and Everton into 16th place.
There are no issues with the weather. The temperature in west London is around 11 degrees, so only the apocalypse can stop the game proceeding as scheduled.
Kick off 2pm.
