Fulham vs AFC Bournemouth Prediction: Little to separate high-flying sides

Two of the Premier League's most impressive performers - this month and across the first half of the season as a whole - meet at Craven Cottage on Sunday (15:00) as Fulham host AFC Bournemouth in west London. Only a point separates the sixth-placed Cherries from Fulham in eighth and one of them could finish the calendar year inside the top five.

Read on for my Fulham vs AFC Bournemouth prediction, complete with all the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Fulham are still without injured trio Kenny Tete, Harrison Reed and Reiss Nelson, while Emile Smith Rowe and Sander Berge are doubts after missing Thursday's 2-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge (Smith Rowe also missed the 0-0 draw with Southampton on December 22).

Football Odds

AFC Bournemouth attacker Justin Kluivert picked up his fifth yellow card of the Premier League campaign in the Cherries' goalless Boxing Day stalemate with Crystal Palace and will serve a one-game suspension on Sunday.

Head coach Andoni Iraola will also be without several injured stars including Marcus Tavernier, Luis Sinisterra, Alex Scott and Marcos Senesi.

Evanilson is set to return to lead the line after Enes Unal got the nod from the start against Palace.

Fulham vs AFC Bournemouth Odds

Fulham are 11/8 to end a two-game wait for a win at Craven Cottage, giving Marco Silva's side an implied probability of 42.1%, while Bournemouth are 15/8, or a 34.8% chance, to claim a fourth consecutive away victory.

The draw is priced at 13/5, both teams to score at 4/7, and over 2.5 total goals, which has landed in the last four head-to-heads, at 4/6.

Fulham forward Raul Jimenez (13/8) heads the anytime goalscorer market, with Evanilson (2/1) first up for the visitors.

Match Result - Draw @ 13/5

Only a point and two places separate the sides in the Premier League table after 18 rounds of fixtures while both teams have hardly been adverse to a stalemate this season.

Bournemouth have drawn 27.8 per cent (five) of their 17 league games in 2024/25 including two of their last three, the first a 1-1 draw against West Ham United at Vitality Stadium and the most recent a goalless draw at the same venue against Crystal Palace.

Fulham, meanwhile, have drawn 38.8% (seven) of their 17 matches, experiencing three successive stalemates against Arsenal (1-1), Liverpool (2-2) and Southampton (0-0) before narrowly avoiding a fourth straight draw at Chelsea (1-2) on Boxing Day by virtue of a 96th-minute winner from Rodrigo Muniz. The Cottagers also drew 1-1 at Tottenham Hotspur on December 1, meaning they have drawn four of their first six Premier League games this month - will they make it five in seven on Sunday?

I'm struggling to split these two such is the array of quality in both squads and on the touchline. Bournemouth won 3-0 on the South Coast last December before Fulham got their revenge in west London in February, triumphing 3-1 at the Cottage, but I don't think either will win as convincingly this time around and in fact, I fancy things to finish level.

Bet Builder - Rodrigo Muniz (FUL) 1+ Shots on Target, Evanilson (BOU) 1+ Shots on Target, Dango Ouattara (BOU) 2+ Shots @ 9/4

After ending the 2023/24 campaign as Fulham's first-choice striker, Rodrigo Muniz has fallen out of favour as Silva's starting number nine, beginning just five of Fulham's opening 17 matches, coming on as a substitute in 11 of the other 12.

However, he started against Southampton on December 22 and came off the bench to great effect on Boxing Day, netting the winner against Chelsea, and that, coupled with the short turnaround in fixtures, could see him handed a start on Sunday.

Despite only averaging 33 minutes per game in the Premier League this season, Rodrigo Muniz is averaging 0.5 shots on target per game and has scored with two of the three shots he has managed to get on target in his last three appearances. He scored as a substitute at Anfield earlier in the month and forced a save from Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez on Thursday before firing past the Spaniard in the dying embers. I fancy him to at least test Bournemouth shot-stopper Kepa at the Cottage.

Following suit, I'm backing Cherries striker Evanilson to register a shot on target having managed at least one in his last 10 outings, including on Boxing Day when he was only introduced in the 62nd minute. I expect the Brazilian to start ahead of Unal in west London and that makes this selection even more promising.

The 25-year-old is averaging 1.1 shots on target per game in the Premier League and should be able to at least force a save from Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno on Sunday.

My third and final pick in this 9/4 Bet Builder is for Bournemouth winger Dango Ouattara to take at least two shots, something he has done in four of his last five appearances, despite only starting three of them.

He fired four shots off against Palace earlier in the week. five at West Ham United on December 16, two as a substitute at Ipswich Town - scoring with one effort - eight days earlier, and five as a substitute at Tottenham Hotspur on December 5.

Despite only averaging 52 minutes per game in the competition Ouattara is averaging 1.6 shots per game, so he's certainly not afraid to try his luck.

Offers

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