Match Preview: Fulham (H): Welcome Home, Lads!

Football returns to the Stadium of Light during a season which will host European football for the second time in our history.

I'm very excited to see the Lads back in competitive action on Wearside; however, I'd have preferred some points on the board…

Tickets & Match Coverage

Tickets: Tickets are still available at https://tickets.safc.com

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TV/Stream: Full live match coverage is available on Sky Sports

Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online)

Don't forget to follow the blow-by-blow account of the game on the Roker Report Twitter feed (@RokerReport) and check out the player ratings after the full-time whistle at www.RokerReport.sbnation.com!

Head to head record

Historically, Fulham have had the the upper hand across this fixture, taking the lion's share of wins and also taking the points in the last two fixtures. See below for the full head-to-head results.

Sunderland Wins: 7

Draws: 9

Fulham Wins: 12

The build up

Both sides come into Sunday's fixture with an opening-round defeat to their names, and Sunderland fell victim to former Black Cat Jack Clarke's stoppage time winner away to Ipswich in a somewhat underwhelming game on the whole.

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With two new signings in the building since the defeat, will we see the likes of Jules Ahoka make their Premier League debuts?

Fulham, on the other hand, were soundly defeated at home by local rivals Chelsea, with the 2-3 scoreline flattering the Cottagers somewhat. Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez gifted the hosts their two goals in an unconvincing performance and made the final score look more competitive than the game itself actually was.

Fulham also come into this season following departure of Marco Silva and some key departures across the summer. Whilst the signing of Gonzalo Garcia from Real Madrid looks to be a good purchase, they looked a touch suspect defensively against Chelsea. A potential area for Sunderland to exploit?

Last time out…

In the last game between the two sides, Fulham inflicted a first home defeat of last season on Sunderland, breaking our record unbeaten home run for a promoted side and also becoming the only side last season to do the double over us.

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Sunderland 1-3 Fulham

[Le Fée 76' pen – Jimenez 54' 61' pen, Iwobi 85']

Sunderland: Roefs, Mukiele (Geertruida 12'), Hume, Ballard, Alderete, Sadiki, Le Fée, Diarra (Xhaka 71'), Ta Bi (Mundle 39'), Angulo (Mayenda 70'), Brobbey (Isidor 70')

Substitutes not used: Ellborg, O'Nien, Rigg, Talbi

Fulham: Leno, Tete (Castagne 88'), Sessegnon, Andersen, Bassey, Berge, Iwobi (Cuenca 88'), Smith-Rowe (Cairney 88'), Wilson, Kevin (Bobb 45+1'), Jimenez (Muniz 65')

Substitutes not used: Diop, King, Lecomte, Reed

Attendance: 47,222

Score prediction

Call me an optimist, but I feel as though we'll show our best at home and get that first win and put to bed some of the doubters amongst us.

I think the defensive errors from Ipswich will be addressed and we're a side who don't tend to lose many in succession, as shown last season.

Sky Sports' Lewis Jones has predicted a 1-1 draw, but also spent his entire piece on this game talking about Josh King with no reference to Sunderland, whereas our own sponsors LiveScore have predicted a 2-1 away win. Having a further look into other predictions, I was struggling to find one with a Sunderland win listed!

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This seems like par for the course considering most pundits and sites predicting us for the relegation zone, so I'd take this all with a pinch of salt.

Matt's Prediction: Sunderland 2-0 Fulham

Sunderland Fanalysis Prediction: Sunderland 2-1 Fulham

Fulham Fanalysis Prediction: Sunderland 1-2 Fulham

Fanalysis Prediction: Sunderland 1-2 Fulham

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