Dependable to the end...?
23 Players That Haven't Missed A Premier League Game For Their Club So Far This Season
1. Gareth Barry (Aston Villa)
2. Brad Friedel (Aston Villa)
3. Kevin Davies (Bolton)
4. Jussi Jaaskelainen (Bolton)
5. Fabrice Muamba (Bolton)
6. Jlloyd Samuel (Bolton)
7.

Five things from yesterday:

David Stockdale

I don't think we could have expected much more from the lad. Nothing he could have done about the Cahill header, and whatever else came his way he dealt with nicely. The early deflected shot could have made him look silly but he kept it out (and diverted it out of harm's way), and he made a nice save late on as well.

Last year we justified the lack of goals by pointing to a cast iron defensive record. The idea was (correctly, I think) that because the midfielders are more defensive than attacking our men are behind the ball in transition and neither team scores many.

This year's been a bit of a bugger, in that we've already allowed 7 goals.

Roy Hodgson, surely the Premier League manager of the year?

On 28 December Roy Hodgson accepted the managers post at Premier League side Fulham. The Cottagers' immediate future was looking bleak - in the bottom three, with just 14 points on the table. The revival was hardly immediate either, taking just two points from his first five league games in charge.

We've signed Birmingham right back Stephen Kelly.

Roy says:

"I am delighted that Stephen has become our first signing of the summer transfer window. He is a talented young full back with experience of playing in the Premier League as well as competing at international level.

Perth Glory 0
Fulham 5 (Johnson 16', Nevland 60', 64', 68', Andranik 83')
Crowd: 14,903
PERTH Glory were on the receiving end of a 5-0 trounching from English Premier League side Fulham, with forward Erik Nevland scoring a hat-trick within eight minutes, during their friendly match on Thursday.

Here's where Fulham players were selected in the Paintsil League at The Times:

ROUND PICK PLAYER POS TEAM
1 9 Dickson Etuhu CM Flatter to Decieve FC
1 10 Mark Schwarzer GK Ball Blacks
1 13 Clint Dempsey LM New York Whites
2 27 Brede Paulsen Hangeland CB Ball Blacks
2 28 John Paintsil RB Flatter to Decieve FC
3 43 Danny Murphy CM Lamb Chops
4 71 Aaron Hughes CB Jimmy Hill Is The Messiah
5 76 Andrew Johnson FOR HammyEnd.

Fulham

Last Season: 7th, 14-11-13 (53 points, +5 goal differential)

Recent Form: WLLWL

Home Form (last season): 4-4-11

Last Meeting: Arsenal 0-Fulham 0 (2/28/09)

Back in league action tomorrow with a VERY tough match-up against Fulham.

UPDATE: According to Fulham's official website, Fulham defender Aaron Hughes signed a new deal that will keep him at the club until 2013.

December 3rd, 2009 According to David Smith at the London Evening Standard, Fulham are in talks with defender Aaron Hughes to work out a new deal.

Here, belatedly, is part 4 of the midfield analysis. Just got the numbers and still at work (poor me!) so might as well post up now.

So, of our intrepid centre midfield quartet, who is being useful? We, by now, think that they're all fairly good but there are some differences.

Fulham's Craven Cottage is never a particularly easy place to go. In eight games at home this season the Cottagers have lost just twice and have won five so this will not be an easy fixture by any means for Sir Alex's men.

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson is a very tactically aware manager and breaking them down won't be easy.

The good news is in: Brede Hangeland has signed a contract extension with Fulham.

It's a win-win situation. If at some point in the next two years Fulham start to seriously underperform, or if Hangeland takes his game to a new level, then at least we'll be able to get fair value for him when the vultures circle.

According to David Smith at the London Evening Standard, Fulham are in talks with defender Aaron Hughes to work out a new deal. Hughes said,

"We're talking at the minute and, hopefully, we can get something sorted out ... I've enjoyed it here even when things weren't going too well in my first season with the club.

There is still much water left to flow under the 2009 bridge, but now seems as reasonable time as any to take a look back.

As I write this, on Christmas Eve, things couldn't be much better for Fulham FC. We have a solid squad with a settled team and legitimate backup options in most positions.

As good a 0-0 as we'll see. This one felt like a real test: it's all well and good thrashing a wounded Manchester United (I've never said that before), but Spurs, as currently set up, are somewhat different, a team at the very top of its game, and with devastating attacking players all over the pitch.