Fulham vs Exeter City Predictions

Exeter City make the trip to Craven Cottage this week to play Fulham in the 2^nd Round of the League Cup, and the League Two minnows will be dreaming of inflicting a huge upset against the newly promoted Premier League side.

The Grecians have already pulled off a shock in this season’s competition after beating Championship side Ipswich Town on penalties at St James’ Park in the 1^st Round, and they head to South West London on Tuesday knowing that all the pressure will be on the hosts to avoid an embarrassing defeat and progress as expected to the 3^rd Round.

It’s been a strong start to the campaign overall for Exeter who have responded terrifically to their 3-1 Play-off Final defeat to Coventry City back in May.

Sides who suffer Wembley heartache often struggle to bounce back in the following season, but that’s not been the case so far for City who sit 3^rd in the fourth tier after three wins and a draw from their opening five league matches.

New boss Matt Taylor, who appeared over 150 times for the club during his playing days, can take great credit for the job he’s done since replacing Paul Tisdale in the summer, but the hard work may now be about to start after his side were beaten for the first time this term at the weekend.

Exeter went down 1-0 at MK Dons to halt their excellent run of form, but any kind of competitive result at Craven Cottage this week will go a long way to eroding the disappointment of their unbeaten run coming to an end.

Fulham will of course be a mightily tough nut to crack, even if manager Slavisa Jokanovich makes wholesale changes to his regular starting line-up as expected.

And the Serb may choose to send out a clean sweep of fringe players considering their short turnaround – Fulham will have just 48 hours to prepare for this tie after their tea-time Premier League match against Burnley on Sunday.

That game saw Fulham get their Premier League campaign up and running, as goals from Michael Seri, Andre Schurrle and a brace from star man Aleksander Mitrovic secured a 4-2 success against Burnley.

The Cottagers deserve to finally have points on the board after their opening three fixtures, as they played well against Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur on the first two match days without gaining any reward.

With Premier League safety the main target for Fulham this season, we don’t expect Joknovich’s side to make much of an impact in this year’s competition, however they should have too much in hand for Exeter on Tuesday as a number of squad players aim to force their way into first team plans.

Aboubakhar Kamara may come in to replace the prolific Mitrovic up top and midfielder Ryan Sessegnon could also start after his substitute appearance at the weekend.

The visitors will no doubt give this tie a good go nonetheless, and can at last get on the scoresheet after hitting the net nine times in their last five games.

So we’re backing the Premier League side to win this with both teams scoring, and 3-1 is our tip in the correct score market.