Bolton boss Phil Parkinson is backing Sammy Ameobi to do a job on Ryan Sessegnon when the two sides meet at the Macron on Saturday.
The former Newcastle man bagged the Trotters' goal in the reverse tie at the Cottage, where a last minute Tom Cairney header ensured Fulham salvaged a point in what was an uninspiring display from the hosts.
But fast forward to February, and Fulham are now fifth having won their last five games on the bounce - with Sessegnon having just won the Player of the Month award after becoming the Cottagers' top scorer with 11 goals this term, as well as thriving as left forward.
It looks more likely that Matt Targett will be the man to deal with Ameobi, but Parkinson is still backing his man to be the one everyone is talking about after the game.
He told the Bolton News : “Sessegnon is a great talent, but I have to say, I think Sammy did great against him down at Craven Cottage. He rose to the challenge playing against a player the country has been talking about.
“Sammy wants to make sure they are talking about him after the game – as they did on Friday night against Bristol City.
“I think he has improved such a lot, physically. We brought him off in that game because he was shattered, he’d physically cramped up. But we look at him now and did some physical work ahead of the Bristol game and he was right at the front of it.
“I think he’s in the best shape of his career, and I think you could ask him that, and the goal typified that.”
Fulham will look to go to the Macron and dominate possession and the play, getting their centre backs on the ball to start building up right from the back - but Parkinson thinks the side can leave themselves exposed, something that happened with sloppy mistakes against Nottingham Forest.
"We know Fulham’s two centre-backs are going to see a lot of the ball. We’ll have to be patient, but equally the other night we got more belief and calmness when we got hold of the ball. That was good to see," he added.
“Fulham are a team which can leave itself exposed. When you win back possession you have to have that degree of calmness to get that first pass off.
“If you can, then we have got players who will cause them problems.”
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