Marco Silva is determined to keep Fulham’s feet on the ground despite their SW6 derby success that lifted the Whites to sixth in the Premier League table.

The Cottagers recorded their first win over Chelsea in seventeen years thanks to Carlos Vinicius’ first goal for the club last night, but the Fulham head coach is insistent that his first objective is extending their stay in the top flight for more than a single season – something that has proven beyond his predecessors since 2014.

Silva told his pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to Newcastle this morning that nobody connected with the club is considering continental football.

“Of course we are in a great position in the table, but we are not here to change anything from our goals until we have achieved that, this is clear for me. The goal is still at the same level, no-one in our football club will change the goals if we have not achieved it. Until we have achieved our target of this club remaining in the Premier League, we are not changing anything from our aim and from our ambitions.

“We are an ambitious football club, definitely. I have ambition as a manager, and my players too, but you have to be realistic. We are really pleased with the way we have been playing, which has achieved great results for us, but the Premier League is really tough.”

The Portuguese head coach did take the opportunity to question the fairness of Fulham’s trip to St. James’ Park coming so soon after the rescheduled derby.

“I think I almost don’t have time to prepare for the game. It is unfair for us to start that game at 2pm on Sunday, more because of the way the game against Chelsea was scheduled for a Thursday night. It is difficult to understand after such as busy period after the World Cup for all the clubs to be playing almost every three days. “We finished the game (on Thursday) at 10pm and we are going to start the game (on Sunday) at 2pm.”