Slavisa Jokanovic has told the press that he isn’t considering the impact this weekend’s west London derby could have on the promotion picture and is completely focused on taking all three points against Brentford.
Fulham haven’t beaten the Bees at Craven Cottage since April 1990 and the Serbian head coach told his pre-match press conference at Motspur Park that he has put the prospect of putting more pressure on Cardiff City to the back of his mind.
I’m not thinking about where we are right now. We decided a long time ago that we’d go step by step, game by game. We’re in a positive way and right now we don’t need to think about second position or promotion.
The only thing we must think about in this moment is the next chance that’s immediately ahead of us, the next chance for us to perform well and fight for three points. We’ll find this chance tomorrow afternoon.
I don’t believe it’s necessary for my side to think so much about where we are right now, because nobody can guarantee you’ll stay where you are. My target in this moment is only the Brentford game. I expect we can be successful tomorrow, we have great momentum, we trust we can perform well, and if we perform well we can expect a good result.
The Fulham boss acknowledged that Dean Smith’s side will prove difficult opposition in front of the television cameras.
It’s a tough opponent. They try and play in a similar style to us. They won their last three games and kept three clean sheets. Brentford is a very good team. They are fighting for the play-offs, tomorrow is probably one of their last chances to catch this opportunity to get into the play-offs. One point is not enough for them, with one point they can’t win anything. We’re playing at home, we need the points too, and we’re going to see who can play better football and win the game.
Jokanovic also believes his players are high on confidence after extending their unbeaten run to twenty games in the 1-0 win over Reading on Tuesday night.
They trust each other, and they trust they can win the game. This is very good news. If there’s trust then this is the best way for us to perform well and try and find the way for three points. This news is very important for us and definitely encourages myself and my staff, and my team too.
We feel we are strong at home, we mark our territory, this is our home and we are going to try and be strong, dominate the situation, put them under stress and win the game. The last 12 [home] games we won 11 and drew one.
