Before The Whistle: Fulham v Leicester City

Written by Drew Heatley on 23rd August 2024

Back to the Cottage!

It’s the Foxes up first at home for 2024/25, and the Whites will be buoyed by the signing of midfielder Sander Berge this week. The arrival of the Norwegian puts paid to any chase for Manchester United’s Scott McTominay, but not necessarily for the enigmatic Brazilian Andre (does he even exist or are we all imagining him?)

You’d expect Berge to be in the squad tomorrow, having appeared for Burnley during preseason. One man who won’t be in the squad is Joachim Andersen. Despite both Marco Silva and Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner admitting the deal is all but done, any contract had to be signed before midday on Friday for the Danish centre-back to appear tomorrow. We continue to wait on that front and it’ll be Issa Diop and Calvin Bassey tasked with muzzling the evergreen Jamie Vardy.

Much was made about the complexion of our midfield against Manchester United last week. Emile Smith Rowe, while capable, pulled up no trees, while Andreas Pereira’s stats continued to look good from a deeper position, despite that not necessarily translating to the eye test (probably due to his game-defining mistake). Despite all this, expect it to remain the same on Saturday.

Kenny Tete’s shift at Old Trafford surely means he retains the right-back spot, and ahead of him Adama Traore must remain on the wing. That side looks the most likely to cause problems against Leciester’s left flank pairing of Victor Kristiansen and our old friend, Bobby De Cordova-Reid.

Saturday represents a huge opportunity to get our first points of the season on the board. I’ve no reason to believe we won’t. Let’s ‘ave it! You Whites.