Still without a home win in the 2023-24 Premier League season, Fulham seek to right those wrongs when they welcome newly-promoted Luton Town to Craven Cottage on Saturday.

Marco Silva's seething side fell to a 5-1 humbling at the hands of champions Manchester City two weekends ago, while the Hatters' losing streak continued with a 2-1 home beating at the hands of West Ham United.

Match preview

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Nothing less than a Manchester mauling was to be expected when Fulham paid a visit to the Etihad Stadium before the international break, but Marco Silva's side felt particularly hard done by against the treble winners, having gone behind just before the break to a contentious Nathan Ake header.

While Manuel Akanji was in an offside position as he raised his leg to let the ball sail under his foot, it was deemed that the defender was not interfering with play, and any attempts to galvanise his bemused team at the break did not work out as intended for the Cottagers coach.

Tim Ream had initially drawn the visitors level after Julian Alvarez's opener, but a second-half hat-trick from the indomitable Erling Haaland condemned Fulham to a chastening defeat, leaving them with just the one win to shout about from their opening four Premier League fixtures.

The Cottagers found themselves occupying a mediocre 13th-placed standing heading into the international hiatus, and their drubbing against Man City means that this weekend's hosts are one of only two teams to have shipped at least 10 goals in the current Premier League campaign, the other being basement side Burnley (11).

Even when Silva led his side to a 1-0 victory over Everton on the opening day, the overall consensus was that the Toffees deserved more from the match, and no clean sheets at home since February 11 will offer Luton some hope of belatedly igniting their survival charge.

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Much was made of the development of Kenilworth Road to be ready for Premier League football, as Luton sought to consign road beatings against Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion to history when they welcomed West Ham to their humble surroundings.

However, the Hatters' party was well and truly ruined by the Europa Conference League winners, who netted in either half through Jarrod Bowen and Kurt Zouma before Mads Andersen's header offered a sliver of hope in added time, but the Dane's contribution was too little too late.

As one of only two Premier League teams without a single point on the board this season - alongside fellow promotees Burnley - 19th-placed Luton are only being kept off the bottom of the rankings owing to a slightly superior goal difference, but their league-low tally of two goals can only be matched by a shot-shy Everton.

Success in the EFL Cup did come the way of Rob Edwards's side at the end of August - a 3-2 second-round win over Gillingham led to a tie away to Exeter City later this month - but Luton's overall away record in the top flight now reads 28 games without a win since overcoming Aston Villa 32 years ago.

The head-to-head column also makes for grim reading for this weekend's visitors, who are winless in seven games against Fulham since prevailing 3-1 in a 1998 second-division match, while their most recent trip to Craven Cottage in May 2022 ended in a 7-0 annihilation under Nathan Jones.

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Late arrival Alex Iwobi was not in contention for his Fulham debut against Man City due to a thigh injury, but the former Everton and Arsenal man has been training over the international break and could now earn his first minutes for the Cottagers.

Iwobi's possible comeback would help to reinforce a midfield which lost Tom Cairney to injury after just 16 minutes at the Etihad, and the captain's knee problem means he is touch-and-go for this game too, while Sasa Lukic (knee) and Tosin Adarabioyo (unspecified) are also absent.

Silva could very well be down to the bare bones in the centre of the park, but the Cottagers boss may welcome Joao Palhinha back to the fold with open arms, as the Portuguese midfielder unsurprisingly sat out the Man City loss after his dream move to Bayern Munich collapsed.

As West Ham and Luton did battle under the bright lights of Kenilworth Road on September 1, the powers-that-be were still conducting transfer business right up until the deadline and succeeded with a loan move for Arsenal outcast Albert Sambi Lokonga, who was in attendance to witness the Hammers' win.

Both the Belgian midfielder and former Manchester United defender Teden Mengi ought to be considered for their debuts on Saturday, while right-back Alfie Doughty came off with an Achilles problem against West Ham, so Issa Kabore and Chiedozie Ogbene are both on standby.

Daniel Potts (ankle), Jordan Clark (ankle) and Gabriel Osho (knee) make up a trio of confirmed absentees for the visitors, who were also without captain Tom Lockyer last time out due to a quadriceps issue, but the 28-year-old has had ample time to recover after missing Wales' fixtures with South Korea and Latvia and should be involved here.

However, Edwards has expressed doubt over the availability of Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu and Amari'i Bell, both of whom might be spared after long journeys back to England.

Fulham possible starting lineup:
Leno; Tete, Diop, Ream, Robinson; Reed, Palhinha; Wilson, Pereira, Decordova-Reid; Jimenez

Luton Town possible starting lineup:
Kaminski; Kabore, Andersen, Burke, Lockyer, Giles; Nakamba, Sambi Lokonga; Chong; Morris, Adebayo

We say: Fulham 3-1 Luton Town

Given their tendency to ship goals and an injury crisis in the middle of the park, Fulham may not come out of Saturday's battle unscathed, even if the tough-tackling Palhinha is reintroduced into the fray.

Luton's own rearguard record is only marginally better, though, and the international break should have done Silva's side the world of good, so we can only envisage the Cottagers rectifying their recent mistakes with a much-needed maximum.


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Written by
Ben Knapton

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