Ryan Fredericks says Fulham are ‘ready for the fight’ at Loftus Road tonight as Fulham aim to collect seven points in a week by beating QPR this evening.
The Fulham full-back, fresh from a rampaging run from right back that turned a tight contest at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night, knows just how important a victory in the west London derby is to the fans. Fredericks told the club’s official website:
We go and win at QPR and it’s seven points in seven days, so that’s what we’re aiming for and we’re confident we can go and get it. It means a lot to everyone. You always want to get the bragging rights over your local rivals.
Everyone looks forward to derbies and it’s even better when it’s a night game under the lights. Their place will be rocking as we’re taking a lot of fans. Hopefully we can get a result for them, we’re more than ready.
Fredericks knows that Ian Holloway’s QPR might pose more of a physical test that some of Fulham’s previous opponents but believes the Whites are more than prepared for a more robust encounter.
We don’t mind that, we’ve got some combative players. It could be an aggressive game but we’re more than ready for the fight. Obviously we know what they’re about. They’re a bit more direct than we are, they’ve got big Matty Smith up front and we know what a threat he can be. They play to their strengths, they’re aggressive, and it’s going to be a tough game.
The former Tottenham trainee was rather modest about his match-changing contribution at the City Ground, when he stormed deep into Forest territory and won a free-kick that Stefan Johansen converted to put Slavisa Jokanovic’s side in front at a crucial point in the game.
It was a good little run for the goal and Stefan [Johansen] put it away nicely. It was tough in the first half, we didn’t get much of the ball so we were under the cosh, but second half we had a bit more licence to go forward. Obviously the result’s the main thing that matters. We weren’t at our best on Tuesday but we came away with a deserved win.
