A creditable display at Tottenham Hotspur that was ultimately decided by two excellent strikes (and one much less excellent one) shows that Coventry City can compete at this level but may just be lacking that killer touch to pull off big results at this moment in time. The Sky Blues now face back-to-back home games against sides expected to struggle with them, with the chance to put some points together that could prove mightily handy come the end of the season.
Fulham travel to Coventry off the back of their first win of the season, a timely one for their under-fire new manager, Alvaro Arbeloa. A team looking to play an attractive passing style of football, the Sky Blues will he hoping their qualities on the counter-attack will come to the fore here, provided they can keep a tighter hand on the defence – particularly when it comes to shots from outside the box.
Expected Line-Up
With no injuries or suspensions to worry about, Frank Lampard is free to pick what he feels is currently his strongest available team for this game. The manager has moved back to his preferred 4-2-3-1 system in recent games – both of which the Sky Blues were expected to, and had, the minority of possession – and with this game presenting a stronger opportunity to win, it would be a surprise to see him veer away from his most attacking potential system.
Whether the Tottenham Hotspur game has done much to sway the manager’s confidence in certain players is hard to tell. The starting XI did a pretty good job on Monday night and it was only when changes were made that the performance worsened. An unchanged line-up seems the likeliest scenario here.
If there are changes, out wide seems to offer the biggest scope to do so. Brandon Thomas-Asante and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto did a decent job against Spurs but either or both could be sacrificed for the likes of Ephron Mason-Clark, Yann Gboho or Loum Tchouana to provide more attack-minded options on the flanks – even if the latter two seem to be on the naughty step for stropping over recent exclusions from action.
Gustavo Hamer, Victor Torp, and Stephen Mfuni seem to be making the strongest cases for finding a place in the starting line-up for, but it’s hard to find whom should be sacrificed in their places and they may just stay as useful bench options, for now.
Last Time We Met
Coventry City travelled to a Fulham side closing in on promotion from the Championship just over four years ago, with the Sky Blues just about harbouring ambitions of making a late dart to the play-offs. A Mark Robins Coventry side fuelled by the brilliance of Gustavo Hamer, Callum O’Hare and Viktor Gyokeres showed that they might just have the qualities to finish in the top six, even if they ultimately fell short that season.
A Michael Rose flick-on from a Gustavo Hamer corner saw Coventry take a lead which was quickly doubled when Viktor Gyokeres squeaked a shot past Marek Rodak in the Fulham goal to put the Sky Blues into a commanding position mid-way through the first-half. Coventry City limited Fulham to little throughout the rest of the contest, and while Bobby DeCordova-Reid eventually pulled one back for the hosts, Callum O’Hare sealed the points, tapping in an assist from Gustavo Hamer.
Key Questions
Is Alvaro Arbeloa On The Verge Of The Sack?
Former Real Madrid Interim Manager, Alvaro Arbeloa, seemed an odd pick for a Fulham side seeking to continue the good work of the pragmatist, Marco Silva. The Spaniard has brought in several academy graduates from his former club and promised to introduce a more enterprising, passing style of football, which looked like a tall order and is proving to be so.
However, the statistics suggest that Fulham have been performing a little better than their current results suggest, let down by poor finishing. In a tight early Premier League table, they could even be in the top-half had they had average luck in front of goal. For Coventry, the concern is that luck could begin to even out in this game.
The question heading into this game is how Fulham will be affected by the pressure caused by their league table position despite otherwise playing like a mid-table team. It could spur them on to play with a level of concentration and determination to fight for what could be a crucial result for both their season and manager, or it could cause them to buckle and panic.
For Coventry City, the job here is to be wary that, despite Fulham’s league position they will be just as challenging as any other Premier League side this season, while also sensing opportunities to ratchet the pressure to turn the Cottagers’ poor start into a crisis.
Is Carl Rushworth Suffering A Crisis Of Confidence?
Having looked all an indomitable presence between the sticks last season, the type of goalkeeper who routinely made exceptional saves that were difference between defeat and victory, in letting in a tame daisy-cutter from Ben Davies on Monday night to seal a loss to Tottenham Hotspur, it underlined just how much Carl Rushworth appears to be struggling against the tougher challenge of Premier League football this season.
It started on the opening day, when Arsenal punished some hesitant moments from the goalkeeper to put the game out of sight, with a similar piece of sloppiness costing the Sky Blues a point away at Manchester City – despite an excellent save against Erling Haaland shortly after. Sandwiched between a more composed display against Nottingham Forest, Rushworth saw 1 in 1,000 efforts from Lewis Dunk and Sven Botman sail past him, with Spurs’ first two goals on Monday night further excellent efforts from long-range.
From a statistical perspective, Frank Lampard is going to be fairly comfortable limiting opponents to long shots over the long run. The issue seems to be that an early run of variance in those situations going against Carl Rushworth really seems to be going against him.
That Ben Davies effort on Monday night underlined what has been a slew of nervous recent displays from the goalkeeper. Rushworth was fortunate just to concede one against Newcastle United, with Bobby Thomas bailing him out on numerous occasions to keep the team’s nose in front.
Carl Rushworth is clearly a goalkeeper who thrives upon making big saves, thus why seeing some remarkable efforts fly past him is proving particularly unsettling. While the defence has been doing a good job of limiting opponents to few chances of genuine quality, if the keeper had the chance to make a big save early on here it might just be what he needs to begin restoring his old swagger.
Are Rudoni & Cherif Coming Into Their Own?
Having gone such a long wait earlier this season before scoring a goal, Coventry City have now scored six in three games, with signs that some fluency is starting to come into the team’s attacking play. Over the past two, Jack Rudoni and Sidiki Cherif have both started and been central to a lot of the Sky Blues’ best moments going forward.
Rudoni appears to have reached a new level this season, using his combination of physicality and technical skill to bounce and glide past defenders, becoming crucial to how Coventry are able to get up the pitch. At the moment, anything good this team is doing is going through Rudoni, epitomised by his involvement and finish for the only goal on Monday night.
For Cherif, after a game in which he had chances but struggled physically against his opposing defenders against Newcastle, the Tottenham Hotspur game was almost the opposite – where he had just one effort on goal but was much more involved in general play. It felt a positive step forward for the youngster and if he can start to have chances while winning his physical battles he has the ability to become a really well-rounded threat and the kind of final third presence that any team in a relegation battle needs to both get them up the pitch and score goals.
Another game for two to develop an understanding could be the start of a crucial key relationship for Coventry City.
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