Burton v Fulham Betting Tips: Visiting side can kick-on at the Pirelli

This Championship match sees two teams with wholly different aims this season go head-to-head as survival hopefuls Burton Albion host play-off chasers Fulham.

After a surprisingly good start to the season, Burton have really dipped and have suffered eight defeats in their last ten Championship matches, winning the other two, putting them down in 20th and just three points ahead of the drop-zone. The Brewers will of course be boosted by the victory claimed in their most recent game at home to Queens Park Rangers but will feel deflated again when they realise that this match against Fulham could be Nigel Clough’s last match in charge of the club as he is set to depart for Nottingham Forest – arguably his most natural home.

Burton have certainly entered their maiden Championship campaign with no fear and have really gone out to attack teams, especially at home. However, their lack of a natural goalscorer has finally caught up with them. Their victory against Queens Park Rangers on Saturday was actually the first time that Nigel Clough’s side have scored in four matches.

With their 3-5-2 formation, Burton are generally quite solid at the back and their record of 38 conceded so far this campaign is the second best of the bottom five teams. However, this is because they, unlike other teams, are rarely on the end of a hammering. In fact, they have not kept a clean sheet since 5th November – there have been 13 games since then.

Burton had made the Pirelli Stadium a fortress in the early part of the season and were playing some of the division’s top teams off the park at times. Unfortunately, they have now slipped down the home form table to 19th due to a dire run of form which has seen them lose their last four at the Pirelli.

Fulham battered Premier League strugglers Hull City 4-1 in their FA Cup Fourth Round match on Saturday but the play-off chasers have been rather inconsistent in the league of late with just one win in three matches which means they are down in 11th in the Championship and five points off the top-six.

Matches involving Slavisa Jokanovic’s men often tend to involve a lot of goals, as shown by Saturday’s result against Hull. The Cottagers have scored an impressive 44 goals in just 27 league games yet have conceded 32 – an average of more than one per game – whilst they have kept just once clean sheet in their last four Championship matches.

The West London side have long been known as a team with a generally poor away record but this season has been different. They’ve yielded as many points (20) away from Craven Cottage as they have at their iconic home, putting them fourth in the ‘Away Form’ table. However, there has been a shift back to their old ways in the last few weeks with the Cottagers winning just one of their last five league matches on the road.

Although Burton will no doubt be fired up ahead of what could be Nigel Clough’s last match, Fulham have the edge in terms of quality and will be in terrific spirits following their emphatic cup win. On this basis, the visitors are fancied to get back to winning ways on the road.

Goals are never far away when Fulham are involved. The Cottagers have plenty of attacking talent and, as they proved at the weekend, are capable of rolling teams over. At the same time, they’re not the securest at the back. All in all, ‘Fulham to Win & Over 2.5 Goals’, at 2/1, looks a good bet here.

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