Cherries can climb to Championship summit with win at Fulham

Fulham last beat Bournemouth over 20 years ago in 1994 and, for this Friday night fixture that pits fourth top in the Championship against fifth from bottom, Coral make Eddie Howe’s Cherries even-money match favourites.

Punters can enhance that price by taking special 3/1 odds for Bournemouth to beat their hosts at Craven Cottage with both teams being on target. Please note there is a maximum stake of £20 on this bet, though.

Kit Symons is struggling to achieve consistency in west London, hence Fulham beating promotion favourites Derby County last time out at home, but failing to win the other nine of their last 10 games across all competitions. Odds of 14/5 say the hosts will follow up upsetting the Rams with another victory.

“The performances have been decent of late, so we haven’t quite got the points tally I would like from those, but we’re very much a work in progress,” admitted Cottagers boss Symons.

“That’s quite evident and there’s still a lot of hard work to be done, but I’m quite happy with how the team’s progressing and it’s all going in the right direction.”

A draw looks more unlikely in 13/5, though Fulham welcome club captain Scott Parker back after being rested in midweek for the 1-0 loss at Watford. Bournemouth may be a little short in the engine room, however, with Dan Gosling and Eunan O’Kane sidelined.

Howe has French forward Yann Kermorgant, though, after five goals and as many assists in his last seven outings, including two in the midweek win over Wolves. Odds of 6/4 say he will net again anytime here, and 8/1 for two goals or more.

Cherries top scorer Callum Wilson, meanwhile, has just one in six, but set up both Kermorgant strikes. He is shorter at 5/4 in the anytime market.