Roy Hodgson was voted manager of the year on Monday evening for his incredible achievement in bringing Fulham to the brink of European glory. Tonight he will look to put the gloss on a season that has seen his side eliminate Wolfsburg, Juventus and Hamburg en route to the Europa League final by beating La Liga side Atletico Madrid in Hamburg. Their opponents are more used to European competition, regularly qualifying for the Champions League and Europa League, but the fact that this is only Fulham’s second ever appearance in a UEFA competition has not held them back against other clubs with big reputations this year.
Atletico Madrid are favourites for tonight’s game at 6/5 (bet £50 to win £60 profit), leaving Fulham as underdogs at 13/5, with the draw at 12/5 with Ladbrokes. The West Londoners have been in poor form domestically, winning only one of their last six league matches and losing 4-0 to Arsenal last time out. However, many of these games have seen Fulham’s top players rested for Europe with league survival secured early in the season.
Madrid have recovered from a dreadful start to the season to find themselves in the final of this competition as well as facing Seville in the final of the Copa del Rey in a week’s time. Their performance when drawing 2-2 with Chelsea in the Champions League earlier in the season showed that they can hurt anyone and they reaffirmed their quality by eliminating Liverpool in the last round of this competition.
The sides are evenly matched and the bookmakers have made a 1-1 draw the favourite score for the game at 6/1, followed by 1-0 to Atletico at 13/2. The game is 17/2 to finish goalless with Betinternet, who offer the same price on a momentous 1-0 Fulham win. Roy Hodgson’s tactics so far seem to have been to keep their away games low scoring and rely on strong home performances. Tonight’s contest has no second leg, however, and it will be interesting to see how the former Inter manager sets his side up.
Atletico’s front pairing of Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero is one of the most feared in Europe and the Paraguayan Forlan has been made favourite to open the scoring tonight at 5/1 with William Hill after scoring eighteen league goals this season. Aguero, who has been heavily linked with a summer move to Premier League champions Chelsea, is slightly longer at 11/2 with the same firm. For Fulham, Bobby Zamora has been one of the performers of the season and the Englishman is 13/2 to break the deadlock tonight, with Texan Clint Dempsey available at 8/1.
Madrid are 11/4 to lead tonight at both half-time and full-time and 9/2 to win the match after drawing at half-time. The bookmakers offer 4/1 that both halves end in a draw and Fulham are 6/1 to get in front for the interval and stay there for the final whistle. Draw/Fulham is slightly longer at 15/2.
Both sides are given a good chance of lifting the trophy and tonight’s final should be one of the most interesting for some time. Atletico are favourites at 8/13 and Fulham are 11/8 with Bodog to provide just one more upset.
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