Fulham will clash heads with Aston Villa at the Wembley Stadium on Saturday evening looking to seal a promotion back to the Premier League. The Cottagers managed to overturn a first-leg deficit to see off Derby County in the playoff semis. Slavisa Jokanovic’s men are in a great run of form in the league which will give them a lot of confidence going into this clash.
However, they will come up against a Steve Bruce side who are well-drilled and have a lot of experienced players in their squad. Hence, this has the makings of a fascinating final where both teams will give their all to earn a promotion back to the English top-flight.
The recent history of this fixture makes a grim reading for the Villans as they have suffered four defeats in their past six meetings with the Cottagers. Slavisa Jokanovic is expected to opt for a 4-3-3 formation and might start Floyd Ayite in place of Aboubakar Kamara in his first-team.
4-3-3 Fulham Predicted Lineup To Face Aston Villa
Defence
Marcus Bettinelli is expected to start in goal for the Cottagers while David Button should be available for a place on the bench. The Fulham goalie might be protected by a backline of Denis Odoi and Tim Ream in central defence while Matt Targett operates as a left-back and Ryan Fredericks is deployed on the right-hand side of the back four.
Tomáš Kalas might be named on the bench and could be called upon during the encounter if required. Slaviša Jokanović will be hoping that his defenders can keep it tight at the back versus the Villans on Saturday so that they have a good chance of securing a positive result at the Wembley Stadium.
Midfield
The midfield trio of Tom Cairney, Kevin McDonald and Stefan Johansen could be deployed at the centre of the park and the performance of these players will be extremely significant if the Londoners are to break down the Aston Villa defence this weekend. The trio has slowly been reaching their top form for the Cottagers in recent weeks so it is expected that they will put in another strong showing on Saturday.
Oliver Norwood could come off the bench for Fulham during the encounter against Steve Bruce’s team if needed.
Attack
The front three would consist of Aleksandar Mitrović spearheading Jokanovic’s attack while Ryan Sessegnon looks to use his pace and trickery down the left-hand side of the Fulham front line. Floyd Ayité will operate on the right wing and look to make the most out of this opportunity in the Jokanovic’s starting XI.
Aboubakar Kamara might be benched for this match after his poor showing in their last league outing.
