STOKE CITY head to the capital to take on Fulham on Saturday afternoon desperately looking to end a run of three successive Premier League defeats.

Losses against West Bromwich Albion, Manchester United and more recently Sunderland, have culminated in the Potters slipping out of the top half of the league table for the first time in three months.

With the table looking so tight however, a spot back in the top ten is a likely outcome if they can secure victory against the Cottagers for the second time this season.

Late goals from Jonathan Walters and Rory Delap were enough to claim all three points for Stoke at the Britannia Stadium in October.

Victory for Fulham would see Martin Jol's side leapfrog the Potters and possibly elevate themselves into their highest league position of the campaign.

The side have been in mixed form as of late recording two wins from their last four games; one of which was an emphatic 5-2 hammering of surprise package Newcastle United last month.

Last time out, they slipped to a 3-0 defeat against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, but they will be buoyed by the fact that they have taken 19 of their 27 points thus far from clashes at Craven Cottage.

MARTIN JOL would be forgiven for feeling that he has a point to prove... after being handed the opportunity to return to English football almost four years down the road from his rather abrupt and unwarranted departure from Tottenham Hotspur.

The 55-year-old Dutchman was appointed as Fulham's new manager in the summer when Mark Hughes decided to step down from the position and it provided him with an exciting new challenge in a managerial career that has spanned some 20 years.

Jol, who had previously had spells in England with West Bromwich Albion and Coventry City as a player, spent three years at White Hart Lane during which the club appeared to be making good progress after the ill-fated reign of Jacques Santini.

But although Spurs reached the semi-finals of the League Cup, the quarter finals of the FA Cup and UEFA Cup and had qualified for Europe again by finishing fifth in the table in 2006-07, speculation began to mount about the arrival of Juande Ramos at the start of the following campaign and it resulted in Jol's eventual departure in October.

He returned to management with Hamburg the following season where he enjoyed similar success to his final season at Spurs by steering them to fifth place in the Bundesliga while they also reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup and German Cup.

The opportunity to move on to Dutch giants Ajax was simply too good to resist and he achieved considerable success in his first season by lifting the Dutch Cup, while they were just pipped to the title by Steve McClaren's FC Twente despite the fact that they won their final 14 League games and conceded only four goals in all their home games.

When Ajax failed to push on in the following season, Jol decided to step down from the post with the Amsterdam-based club lying fourth in the table.

TONY Pulis admits he is yet to make a decision on who will replace the suspended Robert Huth in the heart of the backline.

The German international serves the first of a three match ban after the Club's appeal against his dismissal against Sunderland was rejected by the FA.

Jonathan Woodgate and Matthew Upson are the two favourites to come into the side, after Pulis confirmed both players are chomping at the bit to feature.

In midfield, a late decision will be made on the fitness of Matthew Etherington (flu), whilst in-form striker Cameron Jerome is hoping to be ready having suffered a dead leg last time out.

League: Won 25 Drew 15 Lost 27
FA Cup: Won 0 Drew 0 Lost 1
League Cup: Won 2 Drew 0 Lost 1
Total: Won 27 Drew 15 Lost 29

The last six encounters...

Premier League (15/10/11) Stoke 2-0 Fulham
Premier League (22/01/11) Fulham 2-0 Stoke
Premier League (28/12/10) Stoke 0-2 Fulham
Carling Cup(21/09/10) Stoke 2-0 Fulham
Premier League (05/05/10) Fulham 0-1 Stoke
Premier League (05/01/10) Stoke 3-2 Fulham

FULHAM: WLWLDL

07/01/12 Fulham 4-0 Charlton
14/01/12 Blackburn 3-1 Fulham
21/01/12 Fulham 5-2 Newcastle
27/01/12 Everton 2-1 Fulham
01/02/12 Fulham 1-1 West Brom
04/02/12 Man City 3-0 Fulham

STOKE CITY: WDLWLL

TONY PULIS

"I really enjoy going to Craven Cottage. It's fantastic. A real traditional football club and it's a place that I enjoy going to. It's a tight ground and they are a very well run football club. It will be a tough game; they have good players and they move the ball around the pitch very quickly. We did well against them at our place and hopefully we can replicate that performance down in London on Saturday. I have good memories of going to Craven Cottage as I won promotion there twice; in 1987 under Harry Redknapp as a player and a few years later as a manager at Gillingham."

The last four meetings between the two sides have ended with a 2-0 scoreline (twice for Stoke and twice for Fulham).

Cottagers top goalscorer Clint Dempsey has scored three goals in the last five league meetings against the Potters.

Fulham and Stoke have won three of their seven Premier League meetings each.

The Potters have failed to score in 13 of their last 21 away games in the Premier League games and in three of their last four.

Fulham have won four and lost just one of their last six Premier League home games.

Stoke have fired in the fewest shots (181, excl. blocked) and posted the worst shooting accuracy (34%) in the Premier League this season.

The Potters have netted the highest percentage of goals from set pieces in the top flight (57%).

Stoke have won just one of their last eight Premier League games (W1 D3 L4) and lost the last three in a row.

Tony Pulis' side have failed to score in three of their last four Premier League matches and scored only once in the other.

Fulham have won just two of their last eight Premier League games (W2 D3 L3), both of which have come at Craven Cottage.