Fulham V Blackpool at Craven Cottage : Match Preview

04 January 2013 14:31
Fulham V Blackpool - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.


Injury concerns for Jol

Martin Jol plans to name a strong Fulham line-up in the FA Cup third-round tie with Blackpool, but will have to do without several key players.

Mladen Petric, Damien Duff and Mahamadou Diarra are still injured so will be unable to feature for the west Londoners.

Mark Schwarzer is also sidelined due to a neck problem, while Stephen Kelly (knee) and John Arne Riise (shin) are also missing.

"I love the competition," Jol said. "When I played in England with West Brom it was always special.

"Most of the time, if not all the time, they were sell-outs and for a lot of teams a reason to spark up your season, to do something nice. That is what I always thought of the FA Cup."

All eyes will be on whether Tom Ince and Alex Baptiste feature for Blackpool.

England Under-21 winger Ince and Seasiders captain Baptiste are reportedly the subject of January transfer interest from Liverpool and Leicester respectively.

The players would become cup-tied for any potential future employers if selected by boss Michael Appleton at Craven Cottage but the pair are expected to be included in the travelling party.

Appleton is slightly light on attacking options after Nouha Dicko and Wes Thomas returned to Wigan and Bournemouth from their respective loan spells.

Centre-back Ian Evatt (knee) and winger Matt Phillips (toe) remain on the sidelines.

Tom Barkhuizen and Barry Ferguson have returned from loan spells at Fleetwood - Blackpool's victims in last season's fifth round - but are unlikely to feature.




Source: PA