Newcastle v. Fulham Preview

With the kick-off of Fulham's tilt versus Newcastle less than twelve hours away, it is probably a bit late to do a preview, but it is the best topic I can come up with at the moment. First we'll do a "Tale of the Tape" between the two. Edit: I couldn't get the format right on the table below, so I apologize for a bit of a tough read.

Fulham Newcastle
4-11-15 Record(W-D-L) 7-8-15
0-6-8 Away(FFC)/Home(NewC) 5-5-5
27 Goals Scored 31
49 Goals Against 57
LLLDW Past 5 EPL Results LLLLD
DWWWL Past 5 FFC/NewC Meetings DLLLW

What can we learn from this? First, Fulham has probably actually outplayed Newcastle this season, and they have certainly outplayed them recently. Newcastle is four points clear of the drop zone at the moment despite having the second worst goal differential in the league. They have only earned one point in their past five matches, and only three points in their last ten.

Obviously Fulham is not without problems. Goal scoring is certainly a concern. 27 goals scored in 30 matches is not good, but it looks even worse when 15 of the 27 came in the first ten games. Everyone at this point is probably aware of Fulham's amazingly bad away form. September 9, 2006 was the last time Fulham won an away fixture, but (and that but may be a big one) it was at St. James Park versus Newcastle.

For me, this comes down to "which is worse" question as most relegation battle games do. Is Fulham's away form worse than Newcastle's current form? I have been planning on posting a prediction for this match since I started typing, but the above question is a hard one for me to answer. At the end of the day, I think Roy Hodgson will decide the result. If he plays aggressively (read two forwards), Fulham takes home three points and that beautiful light at the end of the tunnel becomes much larger. If he takes the familiar conservative on the road approach, the game ends in a draw.

Quote me on that prediction:

Newcastle 0, Fulham 1

Fulham opens the game attacking, scores a first half goal, and protects it with a more defensive second half approach.