In the run up to Christmas, we are bringing you plenty of festive football action.
Tune into BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra for match commentary of three Carabao Cup ties and three Premier League fixtures in the final week before Christmas.
Sammy James, Fulhamish, external
Saturday's defeat at Newcastle United was disappointing, but I'd have happily lost that by five or six goals if it ensured progression in the Carabao Cup against Everton.
That might be extreme, but Tuesday's quarter-final feels massive. Our record in the EFL Cup is absolutely atrocious. This is our first appearance in the last eight for 18 years, and we've never got to a semi-final.
Fulham, of course, have never won a major trophy, making us arguably one of the biggest clubs in the country with no silverware. I feel like cup runs, when they come along, mean even more to our fanbase than most.
Last season's quarter-final exit from the FA Cup against Manchester United was so painful, and I really hope we can avenge that day.
We've won our past three visits to Goodison Park, including this season on the opening day, but Everton feel like a different beast now. We are going to have to play at our very best to have a chance of going through.
However, we are in good form and there's no reason we can't pull off a result.
Let's hope we can make some history.
Manchester United, Fulham, West Ham and AC Milan had scouts at Allianz Arena on Sunday to watch Stuttgart's 27-year-old Guinea striker Serhou Guirassy in his side's 3-0 loss to Bayern Munich. (90min), external
Fulham are weighing up a January bid for Montpellier's 23-year-old Nigerian forward Akor Adams. (Football Insider), external
Want more transfer stories? Read Tuesday's full gossip column
Fulham manager Marco Silva has been speaking to the media before Tuesday's Carabao Cup quarter-final at home to Everton.
Here are the key lines from his press conference:
Silva confirmed that Tim Ream and Adama Traore remain sidelined, while Calvin Bassey will "probably be available" for Tuesday's match.
On Saturday's defeat to Newcastle: "We showed resilience and organisation. Unfortunately, we conceded the first goal and it was difficult after that. It was a difficult game, it’s a difficult place to go."
Silva said Raul Jimenez's red card on Saturday was a "harsh decision": "We are seeing right now that any time they call the referee to the screen, more than 95% of decisions are already made from VAR. VAR tries to convince them that has to be the decision. In some moments I believe the referee should stick with his own decision."
On the trip to Goodison Park: "It’s really difficult to play at Goodison. It’s been a great reaction since the point deduction. It shows their resilience. It’s not a surprise to me; they have great players and a brilliant manager."
More on opponents Everton and their manager Sean Dyche: "It's a tough game. They have shown resilience and you can see they click together with the fans, team and staff. They have good players and an experienced manager. Knowing what he demands from his players, it shows they are all together and that creates a strong connection between everyone at that football club."
Gary Lineker introduces highlights and analysis from Friday and Saturday's Premier League fixtures.
If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up on the action on BBC iPlayer.
And Match of the Day 2 brings you a round-up of Sunday's games.
Listen back to Sunday's BBC Radio 5 Live match commentaries in full on BBC Sounds:
Liverpool 0-0 Manchester United
Listen to Saturday's commentaries here:
Fulham are considering a move for 24-year-old Feyenoord and Netherlands midfielder Mats Wieffer. (Football Insider), external
Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column
Michael Emons, BBC Sport at St James’ Park
Fulham boss Marco Silva was left fuming at the referee decision that led to his side losing 3-0 at Newcastle United.
Striker Raul Jimenez was shown a straight red card in only the 22nd minute following an intervention from the video assistant referee after the Mexican striker leaped out of control and caught home midfielder Sean Longstaff.
While Silva acknowledged Jimenez’s challenge was not a good one - originally earning him a yellow card before then being upgraded following a check to red - Silva’s main frustration was the inconsistency after Jamaal Lascelles’ flailing arm that caught Jimenez two minutes earlier went unpunished.
But the red card left the result as inevitable. Fulham had managed to still look a threat on the counter attack in the first half, but could not repeat the feat in the second as they were overrun.
Newcastle scored three goals and also hit the post late on after hitting the crossbar in the first half.
That’s now eight away league games without a win in a row for Silva’s Fulham and this was an afternoon to forget for his side.
Fulham boss Marco Silva to BBC Sport: "Disappointing afternoon. It was probably the quiet game Newcastle needed after the midweek Champions League game. It wasn’t our fault, the quiet game in the end.
"Before the red card it was a clear elbow from Lascelles. He knew Raul was there. The elbow out. Until the 21st minute all the moments, the referee didn’t give us one foul. For Newcastle it was a free-kick every time.
"These type of games, the referee has to have the ability to handle the pressure because always with the home crowd. The Premier Leagie should decide a referee with the experience and ability to handle pressure. This is the best example of a referee who doesn’t have the experience to handle the pressure. Any doubt, any foul, he didn’t give one. Even the elbow in the face of Raul."
On Jimenez's red card: "He lost the momentum to go in but it's not something serious. He jumped into the player but you don’t see something serious, something wrong with the other player. A yellow is right. VAR is trying to find all these moments to give. To justify their job? I don’t know. It’s clear he [Jimenez] lost the momentum. He should have done it in a different way. To go for a red card feels really strange. It was a strange afternoon for the refere. I went to speak with him [afterwards] but he almost ran to the dressing room. It’s what we’re facing right now.
"We did really well [at 11 v 11]. We’re in a very good moment. We came here to fight for three points. The start of the game showed that it was going to be a tough game for Newcastle. When you play with 10 the effort is huge. We had our moments. If Alex [Iwobi] had scored the game would have been different. Second half we started controlling really well. The first goal killed our belief a little bit. That’s normal with 10 men. Yellow cards. I had to take some players from the pitch because I thought there were going to be more red cards. Lack of experience clear to me from the referee this afternoon."
Aged 17 years and 229 days, Lewis Miley became the youngest player to score for Newcastle United in the Premier League.
Newcastle have won seven successive Premier League games at St James’ Park - their longest run in the competition since between September 2002 and January 2003 (11).
Only Sheffield United (7), Luton Town and Nottingham Forest (both 6) have lost more Premier League away games this season than Fulham (5). The Cottagers have lost three successive top-flight matches on the road for the first time since October 2020.
Since Eddie Howe’s first Premier League game in charge of Newcastle United in November 2021, only Liverpool (34) and Manchester City (31) have kept more clean sheets than their 29 - 20 of which have been at home.
Raul Jimenez is the first Fulham player to receive a straight red card in the Premier League since Nathaniel Chalobah in October 2022, also against Newcastle.
Seventeen-year-old Lewis Miley became Newcastle's youngest Premier League goalscorer as the Magpies bounced back from Champions League elimination with a win over 10-man Fulham.
Fulham had striker Raul Jimenez sent off after 22 minutes following a dangerous, jumping challenge into Sean Longstaff, which caught the Newcastle man in the face.
On-pitch referee Sam Barrott originally showed Jimenez a yellow card before video assistant referee Michael Salisbury told Barrott to review the Mexican's challenge, which was then upgraded to a red card.
Anthony Gordon hit the crossbar for the hosts in the first half, before substitute Miley, who joined the club's academy at the age of seven, fired a low shot past Bernd Leno early in the second half.
Miguel Almiron added a second goal when the ball broke to him a few yards out after Callum Wilson thought he had been fouled by Antonee Robinson.
Dan Burn grabbed a third late on, bundling the ball over the line after his header had been parried by Leno.
The result ended Newcastle's run of three successive defeats. It came three days after the 2-1 home loss to AC Milan not only led to elimination from the Champions League, but also saw them finish bottom of their group to end their involvement in European competition this season.
Were you at the match or did you follow it from home?
How did you rate the side's performance, Newcastle fans?
There are five games being played in the Premier League on Saturday and we will bring you every moment.
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Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches again this season, against a variety of guests.
For this weekend's games, he takes on darts star 'Hollywood' Chris Dobey, who supports Newcastle.
Sutton's prediction: 3-1
Free-scoring Fulham have turned into the Premier League's surprise package, so predicting this game is not as clear-cut as it might have been a couple of weeks ago.
That's partly because it would be easy to doubt Newcastle at the moment - they were out on their feet against Tottenham last weekend and gave everything in defeat by AC Milan on Wednesday.
But I am still going with Eddie Howe's side to come out on top. They play Chelsea in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals next week but now they are out of Europe, they can concentrate on the league. They have to, really.
And, at home, they have still been impressive with seven wins and only one defeat in the league so far this season - that late turnaround against Liverpool in August. This won't be easy, but the crowd will help them here.
Dobey's prediction: 2-0
Fulham have been playing well - I watched them recently against Liverpool, and no way did they deserve to lose that one, and then they smashed West Ham at the weekend too. But I can never back against Newcastle, can I? And our form at home has been very strong. We have been solid at St James' so far, although we might need the fans to be the 12th man to get us over the line.
Read all of Sutton and Dobey's predictions for this weekend's games
The return to fitness and form of Fulham's 26-year-old English defender Tosin Adarabioyo has stirred interest ahead of the January transfer window. (Mail), external
Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column
Werrda Ali, BBC Sport
Fulham manager Marco Silva has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League match against Newcastle.
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
Silva on injuries: "Tim Ream will be out and Adama [Traore] as well. All the others will be available for the match. Tim felt something in his calf against Nottingham. He is not training. Let's see, him returning before Christmas will be too early."
On Issa Diop's recovery: "It's a process. He's been training for the last two weeks. If you ask me if he is 100% ready, I will say it is probably too early for him. He's doing all the right things. We will see how he reacts to each session and keep assessing him. There are good signs from him too."
On Willian's availability for Saturday: "He is OK. He trained this morning. We keep assessing him and checking him and try to recover him as much as we can, not just for this next match. When he trained this morning he felt OK. Let's see the next few hours."
On Newcastle: "They have been showing they are a tough team to play. Last year, they did brilliant achieving a Champions League spot. We have to embrace the challenge. It’s going to be a tough one."
On Fulham's recent performances: "We played really well in the previous two games. For me it is a clear consequence of our work. I’m really pleased and the players should be as well."
The Cottagers manager on Bernd Leno's new contract:" He is a key player for us, an important player and I believe one of the best goalkeepers in this competition."
On the recent form of Raul Jimenez, Silva added: "I’m really pleased for him. He is a top professional. He’s playing with a smile on his face and that is the most important thing for me."
Newcastle are unbeaten in their past six Premier League meetings with Fulham, winning the last three in a row.
Since beating Everton 1-0 on the opening weekend, Fulham are winless in their past seven Premier League away games. They last had a longer winless run on the road in the same campaign in their first 17 games of the 2018-19 season.
No player has more Premier League assists this season than Newcastle’s Kieran Trippier (seven). It’s as many as he provided in the competition in the whole of last season, with Matt Ritchie the last Newcastle player to provide more in a single campaign (8 in 2018-19).
Fulham have scored 16 goals in their past four Premier League games, one more than they had in their previous 15 combined. They have won their past two games 5-0 – only two teams have ever scored five or more goals in three consecutive Premier League games; Chelsea in May-August 2010 and Manchester City in September 2017.
Newcastle have won 80.8% of their Premier League points in home games this season, with only Sheffield United (87.5%) winning a higher share on their own patch.
Back-to-back wins have given Fulham confidence and with a couple of away games it will be interesting to see how will they react. Can they back it up away from home?
They have some good players, but questions were asked if they can continue to do what they did last season. They lost Aleksandar Mitrovic and people were saying they can’t score a goal and then they finally click and score 10 in two games.
I think they are in a great position, but they are still finding their feet. What is their target? They would love to finish in the top eight and that would be a great achievement.
But qualifying for Europe depends on the manager, the recruitment levels and what they can spend to take the club to the next level. If you tell me they will finish 10th, you’ve got to say that’s absolutely brilliant.
I think they over-achieved last year, so if they build on it again and finish 10th after being a club that has been up and down, that would be brilliant.
Image source, Getty ImagesBernd Leno has signed a new contract that will keep him at Craven Cottage until at least the summer of 2027.
The 31-year-old's new deal also includes a clause allowing Fulham to extend it by a further year.
Leno told FFCtv: "I found out about the offer from the club during the last international break, and it didn't take much time because I think all parties were very comfortable with it.
"I said straight away that I want to stay here even longer, so I'm very happy about that, and about the long-term plans of the club.
"I feel there are still a lot of good years to come from me, and hopefully I can give something back to the club, to the fans, to the team, to everyone at the club, and we can be even more successful."
Image source, Getty ImagesFormer Chelsea and Everton winger Pat Nevin, writing for the BBC Football Extra newsletter: "It's always tempting to concentrate on the top-four race or the fight against relegation in the Premier League, so now and again that rare thing - mid-table mediocrity - can be ignored, despite being a very happy and comfortable place for a few clubs.
"Sitting 10th out of 20 clubs is very much the middle of the pack, and here we find Fulham. They would probably go unmentioned in the newsletter, but let’s be fair to the boys from cosy little Craven Cottage.
"They have scored 13 goals in their past three games, including 5-0 thrashings of both Nottingham Forest and West Ham United, which were preceded by a painful late 4-3 defeat at Anfield against Liverpool.
"Has there ever been a more enjoyable little period for Fulham in Premier League history? I doubt it."
Sammy James, Fulhamish, external
What an incredible week it has been for Fulham. I felt like we had a good chance of getting two wins from the games against Nottingham Forest and West Ham, but I had no idea that we would score 10 goals without reply.
This Fulham team has really clicked since the international break. There is no obvious tactical change or player that has returned from injury, it just feels like the team has started to gel.
The player who I really think is making things tick is Tom Cairney. Sunday was his 300th appearance for the club since joining in 2015. Tom has had many incredible moments, most notably scoring our play-off final winner against Aston Villa in 2018, but he has never quite cut it in the Premier League. His seasons in the top flight have been curtailed either by injury, a lack of form or a lack of minutes.
This season, however, he seems to have found himself a perfect role alongside Joao Palhinha at the base of the midfield. His passing and control of a football match is a joy to behold, and despite him being 32, Marco Silva seems to be getting more and more out of him.
It is sad to think about what Tom potentially could have achieved with a bit of better luck, but I'm delighted that finally he is getting his moment in the spotlight.
