Porto vs Fulham 17/07/19

17 July 2019

Porto will kick-off their pre-season schedule with a friendly encounter with Fulham at the Estádio Municipal de Albufeira this midweek.

An utterly disappointing 2018-19 campaign has seen Porto remain empty-handed after finishing second in the Primeira Liga behind Benfica and suffering a frustrating loss to Sporting Lisbon in the Taça de Portugal final. Still, before being edged out by Sporting after a penalty shootout, the Dragons have put together five straight games without a loss (W4, D1), with three of those wins seeing them beat their rivals to nil. Porto’s devastating attack has scored over 1.5 goals per match on four occasions in that period, scoring precisely two first-half goals three times along the way.

It will be Fulham’s second summer friendly following a disappointing 3-1 defeat to the English lower-league outfit Cambridge United a week ago. A horrible 2018-19 Premier League campaign for the Cottagers has seen them suffer relegation after spending the majority of the last term nailed to the bottom of the PL table. Arguably one of the weakest defense the Premier League has seen in recent years, Fulham’s backline allowed 86 goals last season, more than any other side in the English top tier. Interestingly, though, the Whites have pulled off three wins in the final five league matches the past term (W3, L2), with none of those games seeing both teams score. What’s more, three of those matches have ended with the same 1-0 scoreline (W2, L1), while just one featured over 2.5 goals.