Fulham full of confidence

Fulham should be full of confidence that they can finally end their away day jinx against Bolton Wanderers at the weekend.

Sunday's 1 o' clock kick-off at the Reebok stadium sees the Whites play there fourteenth game away from home in the Premiership and they are still looking for a first league win away from home this season. Former Fulham defender Tony Gale believes that their chances of achieving three points away from home have been drastically reduced because of the two week break they have had in between matches.

Gale said: “For me it's a real pity that the lads have a two week break. After a win like that, you want your next match the next day. If you'd just lost 6-1, a break would be a great opportunity to get yourselves together. But when you've won like that, you want to build on it. That said, Fulham will have had a good rest while Bolton will have had to deal with two UEFA Cup games and an FA Cup tie”.

Sam Allardyce's Bolton side have taken 23 points from 12 games at home this season while Chris Coleman's side have only taken three points away from home all season from a possible 39 and with the way McBride and Helguson in particular have been playing, many feel it is only a matter of time before they break their duck.

The last time Cookie's side played away was against Manchester United at Old Trafford nearly three weeks ago. On that occasion they were unlucky to be on the end of a 4-2 defeat as they had large spells of dominance in possession and looked dangerous throughout. Old Trafford is never an easy place to go at the best of times and the wide pitch suited their in-form players.

Despite the Reebok giving trouble to a lot of teams this season, Gale believes that Fulham's boys should go out and play:

“If Fulham go up to the Reebok and approach the game in a really positive frame of mind, there's no reason why it can't be a chance to get the first away win in the bag. But it will have to be an attacking display. Forget being tight - that's how you end up getting done 1-0 at the very end. If Fulham play at the Reebok how they did at Old Trafford then there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic.”


• Sky Sports Xtra will be televising a programme about Fulham F.C. at 7pm on Thursday February 24th.

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