Fulham's Europa League rivals, CSKA Sofia, have travelled for their crucial group stage match at Craven Cottage without their coach, Luboslav Penev.
The former Valencia and Atletico Madrid striker was barred from leaving Bulgaria as a result of a legal wrangle over an alleged debt of £1million owed to a bank.
CSKA are bottom of the four-team Group E table with just one point from four games and defeat against Fulham would make it impossible for Penev's side to reach the knockout stage.
Tonight, Everton visit AEK Athens and boss David Moyes is hoping a positive result can help turn their season around.
A win for the Merseysiders would see them qualify, should BATE Borisov fail to beat Benfica. However, Moyes is not expecting a repeat of his team's 4-0 thrashing of AEK earlier in the group.
He said: "I never think any win is easy; I think you always have to work hard for it. This will be a much more difficult game.
"AEK have showed good home form, particularly against Benfica when they won 1-0, so that shows that it will be a different game."
