Fulham Preview: Remain United Against The Whites

After playing two consecutive games in London, Manchester United returns to Old Trafford to play host to Fulham in the Barclays Premier League.

Scholes Scored A Stunner At Craven Cottage

The Reds have traveled back and forth to the nation's capital for their last two games, and, impressively, have came away with two away victories, which was the first time this happened all season, but United cannot take this match lightly because Fulham are also enjoying the same kind of form lately.

With just seven Premier League matches left, it is becoming crunch time for the Reds and all of the other clubs jockeying for position, so they will need to continue their decent run of form and remain fully focused if they want to take maximum points from this match with Fulham.

The Cottagers come into the match in very good form having only lost three of their 12 Premier League matches since the turn of the New Year - away to Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton - so United can expect a tough go from Fulham at Old Trafford.

That consistent form, as Sir Alex eluded to in his pre-match press conference, has Fulham currently sitting in 10th place in the league standings.

Even though they are in a surprising position in the league, Fulham are just six points from 19th place, so they are not by any means of the imagination safe from relegation talk.

About
The Lillywhites are now under the guidance of former United legend, Mark Hughes, who took over the managerial reigns from the reigning Barclays Premier League of the Year, Roy Hodgson, so it took a while for his players to warm up to him and buy into his system.

Now that they have done so, Fulham look to be enjoying their football and causing their opponents to work for everything at both ends of the field.

Fulham's saving grace this season has been the organizational structure of their team defending, and they have beaten by two goals or more twice all season long.

Overall the Cottagers have conceded 33 goals, which ranks just behind United for fifth best in the league, and, impressively, there is no stark contrast between conceding more goals at home than away.

The 17 goals that they have given up away from home is tied for second in the league, and will be tested because United are the best scoring team at home.

The Reds 40 goals in 15 games, a 2.67 average, is tops in the league, and also beats Fulham's season goal total from their 31 league games.

To date, the Whites have total just 36 goals in those games, an average of 1.61 per game, but that will be aided by the return of their best player, Bobby Zamora.

Zamora, who caused United, Jonny Evans in particular, all sorts of problems the last time these two clubs met, scored two goals in Fulham's 3-0 win over Blackpool last weekend.

Fulham have been one of the bogey teams for the bigger clubs in England at Craven Cottage, and United found out just how they have become labeled the draw specialists in August.

Previously
After getting themselves in front on a couple of occasions, United were pegged back twice during their 2-2 draw with Fulham, which ultimately saw them extend their recent curse at Craven Cottage.

Paul Scholes scored an early goal, his 150th career goal for the club, but that was canceled out by a Simon Davies, a player that nearly joined the Reds in 1999, 12 minutes after the interval.

With six minutes left, Brede Hangeland put the ball into his own net, and United could have had ensured that all three points were signed, sealed and delivered three minutes later, but Nani had a penalty saved, and it allowed the big Norwegian to atone for his earlier mistake to steal a point for the home team.

The biggest surprise that day was the exclusion of Wayne Rooney, who was suffering from personal problems, and so now Fulham will avoid playing him twice this season.

News
The most popular story out of the United camp is the news that Wayne Rooney lost his appeal, and will serve a two-match suspension for being a human being and showing an outburst of emotion after scoring a hat-trick against West Ham United last weekend.

Rooney will miss this match against the Badgers, and then the FA Cup Semifinal with Manchester City next weekend, but his rest for this match will certainly benefit United for their UEFA Champions League match on Tuesday.

It was great sight to see Rio Ferdinand back in central defense with Nemanja Vidic, but it will be highly unlikeable that he will keep that position after his two-month layoff and with another epic battle with Chelsea to come in a couple days' time.

Manchester United's form at Old Trafford has been second-to-none in the Barclays Premier League this season, and hopefully that will continue with the visit of Fulham on Saturday.

Treatment
Out: J. Evans (suspension), W. Rooney (suspension), O. Hargreaves (shoulder), Rafael (bruise)

Projected
T. Kuszczak; J. O'Shea, C. Smalling, N. Vidic, Fabio; Nani, P. Scholes, D. Gibson, A. Valencia; J. Hernandez, D. Berbatov

Prediction
Manchester United 2 Fulham 1