Leeds United’s season is in danger of turning for the worst after heavy defeats against Crystal Palace and Liverpool and they will want to put that right in West London this weekend.

The Yorkshire outfit currently sit two points above 18th place Nottingham Forest but their hopes of Fulham being on the beach after five defeats in a row shut down their European hopes were left in tatters after the Craven Cottage outfit ran out 3-1 winners at Goodison Park last time out.

Despite their recent troubles, Fulham have remained a fluent outfit with a clear structure and vision of how they want to play, which includes pushing their full-backs on and getting their attacking midfielders involved as much as possible. That has led to a lot of challenges from opposition midfielders. In their last five matches, all five opposition midfielders have committed a foul on at least four occasions.

The bookies have certainly cottoned onto Weston McKennie and Marc Roca enjoying a ticking off from their referee but Jack Harrison remains a decent price at 1.36. The ex-New York City man having committed a foul in seven of his last nine starts and his position on the right-wing means he’ll be up against the speedy Antonee Robinson here. The opposition right-winger has committed one, three, two and two fouls in their last four against Fulham.

When I saw this fixture, I immediately looked towards Ivan Toney, especially given his agent is a huge Birmingham City fan – Toney celebrated a goal last season by putting his fingers in a “Z” shape to represent the “Zulu” sign associated with the Blues.

However, the England forward has been a good boy of late. His Danish team-mate Christian Norgaard less so.

The giant Dane is one of the most underrated players in the division but that doesn’t stop him from committing a foul and protecting his defence when needed – the 29-year-old has committed a foul in each of his last 12 starts and at least two in nine of those, including each of his last five.

The likelihood is that he’s going to be on the wrong end of the referee’s whistle again this weekend against an Aston Villa side who were initially pleased to be avoiding trouble after the sacking of Steven Gerrard, only to find themselves firmly in the race for Europe with one eye on a top four finish now.

They are one of the most fouled teams in the division and almost every opposition midfielder succumbs – they have given away five, five, four, five and five fouls in their last five matches with the most defensive midfielder committing a foul in each of those games.

The decision to bring Roy Hodgson back made Crystal Palace something of a laughing stock to some but the 75-year-old has proven just why he has lasted so long in the game, coaxing three wins from his first three games in charge to leave Palace closer to the top half than the relegation zone.

Sean Dyche hasn’t quite had the same impact, picking up three wins, three draws and five losses in his first 11 as Everton manager, failing to win any of his last four.

Things haven’t been made easy for Dyche with Seamus Coleman, Amadou Onana, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Dominic Calvert-Lewis all missing, the latter picking up another knock in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Chester in midweek.

It has least given a chance to James Garner, who made his first start of the campaign in the 3-1 loss against Fulham to cover injuries elsewhere. The ex-Manchester United youngster has now played at least half hour for Everton twice under Dyche and committed a foul on both occasions.

Since Roy Hodgson took over at Palace, two opposition midfielders have committed at least one foul in all three matches. It’s easy to see Garner, who already lacks in match sharpness and Premier League experience, committing a necessary foul while trying to compete with Jeffrey Schlupp, Ebereche Eze and Michael Olise.

Former European Cup winners meet at Anfield in a huge game for two clubs who are desperate to save their seasons.

Liverpool have dropped to eighth amid a run of one win in five, as well as being knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid. Nottingham Forest, meanwhile, have dropped back into the relegation zone having failed to win any of their last ten as conversations continue about Steve Cooper’s role as manager.

If the Midlands outfit are to get out of their current predicament, they are going to need Morgan Gibbs-White to step up. The ex-Wolverhampton Wanderers attacking midfielder has had an indifferent campaign but hasn’t been wanting for effort, perhaps epitomised by his willingness to get stuck in – he has committed two, one, two, zero, one and two fouls in his six matches, the zero being a game in which he made three tackles.

That will be required here against a Liverpool side asking plenty of opposition midfielders and wingers recently despite not being at their best. Gibbs-White’s position tends to vary depending on opposition but that matters little given right-wingers and attacking midfielders have committed fouls in three of their last five matches and left-wingers in four of five.