Roker Riches: Our Fulham Fancies

Week Twenty-Seven Recap

Profit for Karl and myself but any celebrations were put on hold when Craig managed to bring home a superb £41.00 profit from his selections last week, some very nice tipping indeed! Craig now enjoys quite a lead at the top of the leaderboard but as we've seen this season things can change very quickly in this feature!

Onto this week's picks

Karl Jones

Despite another loss last time out - both for myself and Sunderland - I think a corner is about to be turned. The last time the Black Cats won at home was a 3-0 win over West Ham United, with an early goal settling any nerves. Whilst I won't plump for a repeat score line, it was Larsson who got his side off to a good start, and a repeat is very much needed this weekend.

Elsewhere, I'll go for four aways. Despite Wigan's vital win at Reading last week, Liverpool should provide too much of an attacking threat for them to handle, and the same goes on Friday night as hapless Wolves face free-scoring Watford. Leicester got back to winning ways in midweek and will need another win to keep pace in the play-off hunt and, finally, the leaders and best team on the road play last-but-one Ajaccio in Ligue 2.

• Sebastian Larsson first goal scorer - 20/1 - £5 Stake
• Liverpool to beat Wigan, Watford to beat Wolves, Leicester to beat Ipswich, Monaco to beat Ajaccio - 17.45 - £5 Stake

Simon Walsh

I can't say I'm overly looking forward to this game with Fulham. Mainly because we're a bit poor at the moment and Fulham are possibly the least exciting team in football. Which is why I'm kind of predicting two wrongs may well make a right and because it would be "very Sunderland" if something which looks very routine, simply isn't. I'm lumping on a 3-2 win at 25/1 and us all getting a bit of excitement this Saturday.

Elsewhere I'm looking at a small accumulator on the following all getting wins. Coventry should overcome Swindon at home, Sheffield United to win at Oldham and Real Madrid to beat Barcelona.

• Sunderland to beat Fulham 3-2 - 25/1 - £2 Stake
• Coventry, Sheffield United and Real Madrid all to win - 17/1 - £3 Stake

David Boyle

With Sunderland on the cusp of a little run of games where we simply have to be looking to put some points on the board tomorrow's game against Fulham is one we can ill-afford not to take all three points from. While Sunderland's form is certainly nothing to write home about, Fulham's away form doesn't make for great reading if you're a Fulham fan: The visitors have failed to win in nine of their last ten away games and have failed to score in five of their last seven Premier League games away from Craven Cottage. I'm going to keep this one simple and back a home win.

Elsewhere I am going to turn to the Championship with a double, kicking off with Watford to win at hapless Wolves on Friday night followed by Hull to bounce back from their heavy defeat at Bolton last weekend with a win over Birmingham on Saturday afternoon.

• Sunderland to win - 7/5 - £5 Stake
• Watford and Hull to win - 4.3 - £2 Stake

Craig Clark

Unfortunately, betting against Sunderland didn't jinx West Brom, but it did win me some money. Honestly, I'd have preferred the 3 points. Fulham up next and they are as erratic us, losing, winning and drawing one each of their last three. In fact, we're consistent compared to that, just not in a good way. The West Londeners have a reputation for being poor away from home but their record against us at the Stadium of Light is actually fairly decent. The Lads last beat them at home in 2008/09, with a couple of 0-0 draws and a 3-0 hammering since. With this in mind and Fulham finding some defensive form in recent weeks, I'm going for total number of goals 0 or 1 at 2/1.

Elsewhere, Catania have been the surprise package in Serie A this season. Despite Inter salvaging a draw in the derby last week, their recent away form is poor while Catania have been strong at home of late. As Argentina proved to be a winner for me last week, it'd be rude not to have another dip into the Primer Division market. I expect Tigre to drop points at home to All Boys this weekend, on the back of a trip to Lima in the Copa Libertadores while Quilmes should have too much for Atletico Rafaela at the Estadio Centenario Dr. José Luis Meiszner.

• Sunderland vs Fulham, total number of goal 0 or 1 - 2/1 - £5 Stake
• Catania and Quilmes to win, All Boys to win or draw (double chance) - 7.5/1 - £3 Stake

Luke Bowley

In this week's podcast I predicted that Sunderland would beat Fulham by three goals to nil. Like most things I do in life, this was a spur of the moment decision based on no logic, and I would like to shamelessly backtrack on this statement. Fulham have tightened up their defense this season, and I can't see them posing that much of a goal threat, so it'll be a low scoring affair I'd imagine. That being the case, I'll go for under 2.5 goals.

Elsewhere I'm going for a good old-fashioned treble in an attempt to catch up Craig. On Friday night, an utterly hopeless Wolves side have a home time against the in-form Watford, and I would expect the away side to get something. On that same night, there's a top two clash in Italy as Napoli host Juventus. The Naples side need a win to stay in the title race, but I just can't see them doing it against a Juve side that are way better than any other team in Serie A. Finally I'm going for Spurs to beat Arsenal in the North London Derby on Sunday.

• Sunderland vs Fulham, less than 2.5 goals-5/6- £5 Stake
• Watford, Juventus and Tottenham all to win- 13.5/1- £3 Stake