After somewhat of a blip in results between November and December, it's safe to say that Fulham are well and truly back on track in their quest to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Following a 7-0 drubbing of Blackburn Rovers over two months ago, the Cottagers won just two of their next seven matches - four of those were draws and they finally came unstuck against Sheffield United for their first loss since October.

Since that setback against the Blades before Christmas though, Marco Silva's players have been on the warpath, with Reading, Bristol City and Birmingham the ones to suffer.

 

 

 

 

Fulham have scored 19 goals in their last three league matches and the next team to face the test are Stoke City, who will welcome them to the Bet365 Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

A daunting task indeed on recent form and the Potters have new defenders on their books in Phil Jagielka and Taylor Harwood-Bellis to try and thwart the likes of Aleksandar Mitrovic - Michael O'Neill's men stopped a run of three matches without a win at the weekend with a victory over Hull City.

Sky Sports pundit David Prutton is predicting no such luck here though for Stoke as he is siding with a Fulham victory - although not as dominant as their last three with a 2-1 scoreline predicted.

"It was a good win for Stoke last Sunday to get back in the right direction after a stop-start month," Prutton said on his Sky Sports predictions podcast.

"Phil Jagielka's arrival already looks a shrewd bit of business.

"He will have to be at his best to repel this Fulham attack.

"My word, have they been on song lately. Nineteen goals in three games is, frankly, ridiculous.

"Stoke might be a bit more resilient, but it's still hard to see past an away win."

The Verdict

It must be a struggle for any manager to plan coming up against Fulham's relentless attacking threat right now considering what they've done in the last week-and-a-half.

As they've proven a couple of times this season though they are not unbeatable and Stoke themselves have attacking threats like Tyrese Campbell who can cause trouble.

Phil Jagielka may have the tools to stop Mitrovic in his tracks but the issue from there is there's several other players who are dangers.

Unfortunately for Stoke fans there's only one way I see this going and it's a 3-1 victory for the visitors.