Fulham Captain Andy Melville
is determined to keep the Fulham bandwagon rolling into December by getting
one over his friend Sam Allardyce when the Cottagers face fellow top-flight
new boys Bolton at the Reebok Stadium on Saturday.
The Londoners strolled to last year's Division One title, while Wanderers
manager Allardyce took his side to the Barclaycard Premiership through
the play-offs.
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Fulham Captain Andy Melville
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Both sides have established themselves in the top flight with solid starts
to the season.
Last weekend, the Trotters beat UEFA Cup campaigners Ipswich 2-1, while
Jean Tigana's Fulham have now won their last three games.
Melville, 32, was coached by Allardyce during his six-year stint at Sunderland,
where he made his name as a confident and reliable centre-back. But now
the Cottagers captain is putting his friendship with the Bolton boss to
one side as his team bids to win their fourth game on the bounce.
Southampton, West Ham and Newcastle have all been condemned to defeat as
Melville's men hauled themselves up the table. And asked if he was keen
to get one over Allardyce, Melville said: "Yes - although I want to
win the game for Fulham really.
"I know Sam from Sunderland, where he did a bit of coaching under Peter
Reid. I haven't spoken to him before the game but I'll speak to him afterwards.
"Bolton are a good side and Sam gets them well-organised. They're hard
to break down and it's not going to be an easy game at all.
"They had a good result at Ipswich and we had a good result against
Newcastle, so it's going to be a difficult game to predict. But if we
show the same attitude as against Newcastle going into this game, hopefully
we can get a result."
Fulham took four points off the Lancastrians as they amassed 101 points
last season. Louis Saha's goals blitz - 32 in all competitions - played
a major role in their hugely-successful campaign, although he had then
been struggling to impress on the Premiership stage until last weekend.
The 23-year-old Frenchman endured a three-month league goals drought
before landing a sensational 25-yard curler to put Tigana's team on the
way to their 3-1 victory against Newcastle last weekend.
Melville believes that memorable strike could be the moment Saha's season
was transformed from a batch of near-misses to another goals glut.
He added: "Louis hasn't got the goals that everyone expected, but
the lads are fully behind him and hopefully his goal against Newcastle
can be the turning point for him. He had a point to prove and came up
with the goods.
"All the lads had faith in Louis. A lot was made of him being sub
a few times, but he's still been playing well."