Preview: Hamburg v Fulham

by setanta.com staff , 22 April 2010

Clint Dempsey is an injury doubt for Fulham's Europa League clash with Hamburg on Thursday evening.


The American attacker travelled with the squad this week but has been carrying a thigh problem, and will be assessed in the hours before the match.

John Paintsil returned to the Fulham bench last weekend following an extended period on the sidelines, but Chris Baird is expected to keep his place in Roy Hodgson's team.

Andy Johnson remains on the long term injury list, while Stefano Okaka and Nicky Shorey are both cup-tied.

Fulham are, of course, hampered by the fact that they had to make the long trip to Germany by road due to the volcanic ash cloud disruption. They are even believed to have had to take a training session on a motorway hard shoulder after becomng stuck in traffic.

Hamburg coach Bruno Labbadia will be without regular starters such as Marcell Janssen and Mladen Petric due to injury problems, while Dutch winger Eljero Elia is not expected to feature again this season.

Former Manchester United hotshot Ruud van Nistelrooy is the major threat. He scored plenty of times against the Cottagers in his Premier Legaue days and will be keen to do so once more.

Fulham (from): Schwarzer, Konchesky, Baird, Riise, Hughes, Smalling, Etuhu, Duff, Murphy, Gera, Davies, Zamora, Zuberbuhler, Greening, Kelly, Hangeland, Stoor, Nevland, Dempsey, Elm.

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Pos
Team P W D L +/- PTS
1.
Man City
38
28
5
5
64
89
2.
Man Utd
38
28
5
5
56
89
3.
Arsenal
38
21
7
10
25
70
4.
Tottenham
38
20
9
9
25
69
5.
Newcastle
38
19
8
11
5
65
6.
Chelsea
38
18
10
10
19
64
7.
Everton
38
15
11
12
10
56
8.
Liverpool
38
14
10
14
7
52
9.
Fulham
38
14
10
14
-3
52
10.
West Brom
38
13
8
17
-7
47
11.
Swansea
38
12
11
15
-7
47
12.
Norwich
38
12
11
15
-14
47
13.
Sunderland
38
11
12
15
-1
45
14.
Stoke
38
11
12
15
-17
45
15.
Wigan
38
11
10
17
-20
43
16.
Aston Villa
38
7
17
14
-16
38
17.
QPR
38
10
7
21
-23
37
18.
Bolton
38
10
6
22
-31
36
19.
Blackburn
38
8
7
23
-30
31
20.
Wolverhampton
38
5
10
23
-43
25
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