Fulham FC - The Final Frontier

By Nishant Joshi

In the past two articles in this mini-series, I hope that I have given you some decent context in my reasoning for loving Fulham as a betting proposition right now.

Tonight, they face Juventus away in the Europa League, but they will hold no fear. Having knocked out last year's winners Shakhtar Donetsk in impressive style in the last round, Fulham are high on confidence and their game plan is clear. Admittedly short on outstanding talent in the absence of the likes of Clint Dempsey, they cannot rely on individual talents. Instead, they will rely on frustrating Juventus who would want to play at a high tempo in front of their home fans.

Against Shakhtar, Fulham were brilliantly organised and never panicked under pressure. Brede Hangeland was particularly outstanding, and not even David Trezeguet will relish facing the giant Norwegian. Having mentioned Fulham's defensive strengths, it should also be noted that they have only failed to score away from home once in 12+1 games in this competition, since first qualifying under Chris Coleman. Also, Juventus have won just one of their past seven home European fixtures, and that against Maccabi Haifa.

With 16 teams left in the competition, Fulham are towards the bottom of the betting, available at 21.0 in the outright market. Liverpool are as short as 5.0 in places, which is remarkably short, while Juventus, Valencia, Benfica and Hamburg are all in single figures as well. The Europa League is not always a competition won by the biggest names, with the last two winners in Zenit St. Petersburg and Shakhtar Donetsk being prime examples.

I'm confident that Fulham are outstanding value in the outright market, so we should not hesitate in chancing our arm at this huge value bet.

For tonight's match, Hodgson will likely start with a defensive 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 formation, with Bobby Zamora playing as a lone striker with Zoltan Gera drifting behind him. With this in mind, and having kept plenty of clean sheets this season, I feel that the 0-0 result will be a major player. Betfair dangle an attractive 12.5 for the outcome, which is huge when we compare it to other firms as short as 8.0. Juventus are available at 1.70 in the outright market, which seems short as well.

NJ's Bets:

Fulham to win Europa League - 4pts @ 21.0 (1, 2, 1/2 E/W) (Bet365, Totesport, Paddy Power )

Lay Juventus - 3pts liability @ 1.71 (Betfair )

Juve/Fulham 0-0 - 2.5pts @ 12.5 (Betfair )

Nishant Joshi