EFL expert issues prediction as Fulham take on Blackburn Rovers

Fulham’s march back to the Premier League at the first time of asking shows no sign of slowing down, and they meet a team who want to join them for the 2022-23 campaign in the top flight in Blackburn Rovers.

The Cottagers have lost just five times in the league all season and they were on a seven match unbeaten streak until Huddersfield Town ended that on February 19.

Marco Silva’s side have bounced back though with two narrow victories against bottom-half teams in Peterborough United and Cardiff City – but they are victories that have left Fulham 11 points clear of third-placed Huddersfield with two matches in hand.

It wasn’t too long ago that Fulham’s opponents on Saturday afternoon were in the top two along with them, but Tony Mowbray’s team have slipped out of form in recent weeks, although last weekend they did break a five-game winless run with a 1-0 success over fellow promotion chasers QPR.

Ben Brereton-Diaz’s recent ankle injury though has left Rovers without much of a cutting edge in the final third, and Sky Sports presenter David Prutton thinks that they’ll go back to suffering this weekend as Fulham will run out 2-1 winners.

“When these two sides met in the reverse fixture it ended in a 7-0 thrashing for Fulham, and they have largely gone from strength to strength since,” Prutton said on his Sky Sports predictions podcast.

“It is surely only a matter of time before they seal promotion back to the Premier League.

“Blackburn went on a brilliant run after that defeat, but more importantly they got back to winning ways and scored a goal against QPR last Saturday.

“They will be feeling a lot better, but it won’t be enough for them at Craven Cottage.

“Although for their sake it will hopefully be a tighter game.”