Fulham team news: Veltman back in training

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Albion head to Craven Cottage on Thursday.

Bruce Talbot

2024-12-04T10:45+00:00

Joel Veltman will train ahead of Thursday's trip to Fulham after missing the 1-1 draw against Southampton. 📷 by James Boardman.

Albion head to Craven Cottage on Thursday to take on Fulham in the first of two games in four days in the Premier League, kick off 7.30pm. Amazon Prime are televising this match.

Team news

At his pre-match press conference head coach Fabian Hurzeler said: “Joel Veltman will train today (Wednesday), and we will see if he’s available. Jack Hinshelwood and Ferdi Kadioglu need a bit more time.”

Fabian’s thoughts

On the complete 90-minute performance… “That's the one million dollar question. If we find the answer to this then we will have a successful time here. We have to work to stay stable and it's more about the behaviour, about controlling the game and sticking to the principles for 90 minutes. Then we improve.”

On serving a touchline ban… “I had this experience once in the Bundesliga. It’s not the best experience to be honest, but it's a fair punishment for me and I have to learn from it. I trust my [coaching] team. I have two great assistant coaches with Crofty (Andrew Crofts) and Jonas [Scheuermann] who will do a great job.

“I always say when I'm on the sideline that I'm not the main person. It's more of a togetherness. It’s not like a one man show. It will always be about ‘we’ and not ‘I’ or ‘me.’ In some moments I'm more emotional and in some moments he (Jonas) is more emotional.”

Fabian Hurzeler will be absent from the touchline at Craven Cottage as he serves a one-game suspension for three yellow cards. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

On Fulham… “A very good team. Really good in possession, they have good patterns, they have great individual players who improve every game with and against the ball. They do everything out of compactness. They try to be aggressive. It’s a very small, tight stadium. The pitch is not the biggest so it will be an intense game, a tough game and they're doing great so far. [Head coach] Marco Silva has improved the team and the players, and I have a lot of respect for him and for his work and it will be very tough to beat him.”

Stats and facts

Fulham are unbeaten in all eight of their Premier League games against Albion (W4 D4). It’s the joint-most they’ve faced a side without ever losing (along with Norwich) and the most Albion have faced a side without ever winning in the competition.

Having won three consecutive Championship away games against Fulham between 2014 and 2017, Albion have failed to win any of their last league visits to Craven Cottage (D1 L3, all in the Premier League).

Albion have won none of their last nine Premier League away games against London clubs (D4 L5), last having a longer run without a league win in the capital between 1961 and 1967 (10).

Fulham won their first four midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Premier League games following their return to the division in 2022 but have since won just one of their last six (D1 L4).

Albion haven’t won any of their last six midweek (Tues, Weds, Thurs) Premier League away games (D3 L3) since a 2-0 win at Bournemouth in April 2023.

Fulham have conceded in each of their last ten Premier League home games, shipping 20 goals in total in this run. Only twice have they conceded in 11 consecutively at home in the competition, doing so between March 2021/October 2022 and April 2014/December 2018.

Albion have won three of their six Premier League away games so far this season (D1 L2), just one fewer than they managed in the whole of the 2023-24 campaign (W4 D6 L9).

Fulham have both scored and conceded in all six of their Premier League home games this season – in their league history, only in 1950-51 have they had a longer such run from the start of a campaign (7).

Fulham’s Harry Wilson has been involved in four goals in his last four Premier League appearances against Brighton (2 goals, 2 assists), scoring and assisting in a 3-0 win in this exact fixture last season.

Kaoru Mitoma scored in both of Albion's last two league games, scoring more goals in those matches (2) than his previous 24 Premier League appearances combined (1). The Japan winger is looking to score in three successive matches in the competition for the first time.

Match officials