Blackpool v Fulham | Saturday 11th September 2021 | 3pm | Bloomfield Road | #BLKFUL
The opposition
- Last season was a superb one for Blackpool as their six year absence from England’s second tier came to an end. After finishing third in League One, a 6-3 aggregate Semi-Final win over Oxford United set up a Wembley showdown with Lincoln City, who they saw off 2-1 to book a spot in the Championship for 2021/22.
- Two former Fulham loanees were key to that promotion, with James Husband and Luke Garbutt both on the Seasiders’ books. The pair featured at left-back during their respective stints at Craven Cottage, but Husband has often been deployed in a more central role these days.
- Blackpool are still searching for a first Championship win of the campaign, but have had some decent performances, taking a point away from trips to both Bristol City and Bournemouth, the latter after fighting back from two goals down.
Blackpool team news
An early red card last time out against Millwall for Callum Connolly rules the right-back out of Saturday’s match, but they could welcome back Husband who sat out the defeat at the Den with a knock. Demetri Mitchell, Gary Madine, CJ Hamilton, Matty Virtue and Grant Ward are all sidelined.
Fulham team news
Harry Wilson and Aleksandar Mitrović were in the wars over the international period and will need assessing, while a judgement call will be made on the freshness of Tim Ream and Antonee Robinson following their late arrival back from Honduras. Kenny Tete, Tom Cairney and Terence Kongolo are all out.
Tickets
Blackpool will be selling tickets on the day, and these can be purchased from the turnstiles at Bloomfield Road, cash only. Tickets are priced at £25 for adults, £21 for supporters aged 65 and over, £11 for under-18s, and £7 for under-12s.
Weather
A cloudy but dry day is forecast in Blackpool, with consistent temperatures of 17 degrees.
FFCtv
Due to a late change in the scheduling, this match has no longer been selected for live overseas broadcast, which means that our supporters outside of the UK and Ireland will be able to watch on FFCtv. Full details regarding Saturday’s stream can be found here. All other FFCtv subscribers can listen to live commentary from Gentleman Jim and Jamie Reid.
See our available subscriptions
Player insight
Denis Odoi knows Blackpool will want to make a statement on Saturday, but says it’s up to Fulham to maintain the recent high standards set.
“They’ll try and prove themselves against a good Championship side to show they deserve their spot in the Champ,” he told FFCtv. “They’ll come out and give it everything they’ve got, they’ll want to measure themselves against good teams.
“It’s up to us to still set the tone and prove to the rest of the league that we want to continue our run.”
Form
Blackpool: LLDLL
Fulham: WWWWW
Pre-match quotes
"I’ve been very impressed with Fulham’s start to the season but I’ve not been surprised at all."
Neil Critchley
Blackpool Head Coach
"It’s up to us to play close to our best level, or at our best level, to keep doing the things we have been, to get the three points, because for sure it will be tough."
Marco Silva
Fulham Head Coach
