Fulham vs Preston Predictions

• Fulham have won five of their last eight home league games, averaging almost three goals per game.
• Preston have lost their last two away league games and haven’t scored in their last three road trips.
• Preston have scored only three times in their last seven away Championship fixtures.

Premier League-bound Fulham won’t lose three on the bounce

Fulham may still need a win on Tuesday to confirm promotion, but if they don’t, Marco Silva will still be demanding much better than the Cottagers have produced in their back-to-back defeats which precede the visit of Preston. The Whites will be Premier League bound if Nottingham Forest lose to West Brom on Monday – which would take any remaining pressure off.

Silva is still going to be their manager next season and will be watching carefully to see if any complacency has crept into his squad, especially given the nature of their recent losses. Fulham blew a half-time lead against Derby on Good Friday and lost 2-1 — their third defeat in five games.

He could make changes for the visit of a North End squad that have won more away games than they have lost since the turn of the year. But Ryan Lowe’s team arrive on the back of two straight away defeats – to Luton and Derby – and haven’t scored in four of their last seven away trips.

Clean sheet conundrum for home backers here

Fulham may not be the tightest defensive unit in the Championship because Silva pushes his full backs up and gambles that they will keep the ball and outscore everyone they come up against. You can’t deny he has got more right than wrong this season, but it has resulted in Fulham keeping fewer home clean sheets than 13 of their Championship rivals.

So backing the hosts to win with a clean sheet may not be the best way of improving their match result odds of around 1/2 to something more profitable if you think, as we do, that Fulham get back to winning ways here. A small boost can be obtained by backing the Whites to score more than once – as they have done in 12 of 20 at the Cottage.

Hence, our preferred play here is Fulham to win with at least two goals in the game – which allows for the prospect of a Preston goal. A 2-0 home win is the correct score forecast, however, because Fulham will want to seal their top-flight return in style if they can and North End are likely to be without 18-goal leading scorer Emil Riis for the game.