Fulham manager Marco Silva wants his Fulham side to embrace the final five matches of the Premier League season.
Following back-to-back defeats, Silva’s side are ninth in the table, but remain firmly in the hunt to qualify for Europe, currently just a single point below eight-placed AFC Bournemouth.
“Definitely,” replied the boss, when asked if the business end of the season is a time that excites him. “If you want to be successful, you work for these sorts of times. Different clubs will be fighting to be champions, for Semi-Finals, like clubs will be doing in a few days in the FA Cup, but the reality is that you want to arrive at the last stages of the season with the chance to fight [for your goals].
“If I told you before the first Premier League match that our goal was to be in the top half of the table, I haven’t changed from that moment. I told you that will be our target and we are now in a position where we can fight for something, and we are going to fight.
“We have worked so hard throughout the season to be here now, in a decisive moment for us, and we have to embrace the challenge ahead of us.”
The next task for Fulham is a trip to already-relegated Southampton. Despite the Saints’ tricky return to the top flight, we struggled in the reverse fixture at Craven Cottage, as Southampton frustrated us to a goalless draw under the interim management of Simon Rusk, who will also be leading the Saints this weekend.
“Analysing that game, it was in different circumstances,” said Silva. “That was a difficult period for them last December after changing the manager.
“Their future, about playing in the Championship, is already clear for them. The game can be different, but analysing their last two games, the approach is more or less the same, very similar. Compact block, five-at-the-back, but let’s see how the game starts and what their approach is going to be, but I’m 100 per cent sure our approach will not change.”