Try as they might, Fulham simply cannot seem to drag themselves away from the relegation zone in the Championship, and failure to beat Huddersfield Town at Craven Cottage on Saturday could see them end the weekend back in the bottom three.

The Cottagers made a dreadful start to the campaign following their relegation from the Premier League last season, failing to win any of their opening eight matches and picking up a solitary point in that time.

However, they have only lost one of the next eight and come into this weekend's match on a five-game unbeaten streak in the league - their best record since February 2013.

They remain just a point clear of the relegation zone, however, with Birmingham City and Bolton Wanderers below them beginning to find a bit of form under their new managers.

Fulham's own new boss, Kit Symons, has been nominated for the October Manager of the Month award, but his side have not made the most convincing start to November.

A 3-3 draw with fellow strugglers Wigan Athletic was a decent result considering they required a late equaliser, but to only pick up a point at home to rock-bottom 10-man Blackpool on Wednesday would have been highly disappointing, despite coming back from two goals down.

Bryan Ruiz scored three goals in those two games, and he is likely to be a key figure again if Fulham are to extend their unbeaten run at home in the league to five matches.

Big-money summer signing Ross McCormack was suspended for the midweek match, but he is available once again this weekend and should return to the side in place of Moussa Dembele.

The hosts will come up against a Huddersfield side whose momentum was finally stunted on Tuesday by a 3-2 defeat at the hands of high-flying Derby County.

That result ended a surprise seven-match unbeaten streak for the Terriers, who are looking increasingly capable of pushing towards the top half under Chris Powell, who has also been nominated for Manager of the Month.

While Powell has got his side picking up regular points at the John Smith's Stadium, away from home there is a noticeable lack of consistency that he will want to address.

In Nahki Wells and Grant Holt, though, he has a strike partnership that can cause problems wherever they play, and those two will lead the line once again in the continued absence of James Vaughan.

Indeed, despite defeat last time out, Powell could opt for an unchanged starting lineup having pushed Derby all the way in midweek.

Recent form

Fulham: DDLWDW

Huddersfield: LWDDWD

Possible starting lineups

Fulham: Bettinelli; Hoogland, Burn, Bodurov, Stafylidis; Ruiz, Parker, Roberts, Christensen; Rodallega, McCormack

Huddersfield: Smithies; Smith, Hudson, Lynch, Robinson; Scannell, Butterfield, Coady, Bunn; Wells, Holt

Sports Mole says: 2-2

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