One of the more interesting - and important - Premier League games this weekend takes place at Craven Cottage as Fulham lock horns with Crystal Palace.
Fulham have lost both of their opening two league games of the season. A 2-3 defeat at home to Chelsea on the opening weekend preceded a 1-0 defeat to Sunderland last time out.
Many punters tipped Fulham to struggle heading into the campaign and were highly unconvinced by their transfer business and the appointment of Alvaro Arbeloa. It's still early days of course, but the early signs are aligned with those negative projections and the team has much to prove.
A home game against Crystal Palace is a game the Cottagers can ill afford to lose, even this early in the campaign. Should they fail to win, pressure will quickly start to mount on Arbeloa and his staff.
Like Fulham, Palace's start to the season has been wholly unconvincing. The Eagles lost 2-0 to Everton on the opening weekend and were then battered by Manchester City 1-4 on Saturday, leaving many questions to be answered.
It's been a tough transfer window for Palace, who have lost Maxence Lacroix and Daniel Munoz and replaced them with a host of players who are either unproven at this level or amidst rough patches in their careers.
Having also lost manager Oliver Glanser and replaced him with Pierre Sage, many people will be unsurprised by their slow start to the season.
They have a very good recent record against Fulham, though, winning three and drawing one of the last three head-to-head meetings.
Still, neither of these sides have played remotely well enough to warrant confident backing in this fixture, so we think the spoils will be shared on Saturday afternoon.
Fulham 1-1 Crystal Palace
