Fulham manager Marco Silva says his Fulham team have got themselves in a position to ‘fight’ as the Premier League season approaches its conclusion.
With seven matches to play, Fulham are eighth in the Premier League table, with a clash at AFC Bournemouth on Monday evening the Whites’ next task. Despite the position in the table, Silva isn’t dreaming of a season playing in Europe next term – and is instead fighting to make it a reality.
“It’s not a question of dreaming,” he said in his pre-match press conference. “We are not here to dream, we are here to look for the reality. If you have a chance to fight for something, you are going to fight.
“Dreaming can be for our fans because of the love they have for the football club. We are in a position that allows us to fight, we have a reason to fight, and we are going to do it.
“We are in a position to fight, whether you achieve it or not is another thing, but we are able to fight for something that is important to the club to achieve. We are not going to hide; we are going to fight.”
Three points is the gap between Fulham and Bournemouth ahead of Monday’s meeting, and there wasn’t anything to separate the sides back at Craven Cottage in December, as Dango Ouattara’s 89th minute equaliser rescued a point for Andoni Iraola’s men in an entertaining 2-2 draw.
Despite the Cherries currently experiencing a six-game winless run, Silva is expecting another tight affair at the Vitality Stadium.
“Bournemouth are always in and around us in the table, sometimes us above, sometimes them above,” he said. “The competition in those places is so tight. Not a big number of points between ninth, eighth, seventh, sixth, fifth. It’s so tight and with one or two results you are in a great position, and with one or two other results you can drop position. That’s the reality of the Premier League right now.
“About Bournemouth, the games against them are always really tight, competitive and most of the time, open games with goals. We know what kind of approach they’re going to have. We know they’re coming from a really difficult run of results and they want to react from it. They will be at the top of their motivation to break that bad run of results, playing at home with support from their fans.
“But they will be playing against a Fulham side who wants the same. We want to keep the momentum. They are a good side, very well-managed, but they are going to face a Fulham side capable of punishing them too.”