Marco Silva says Sunday’s SW6 derby is like a final for Fulham – who could seal a first ever league double over their local rivals with victory at Craven Cottage.

The Portuguese head coach masterminded the Whites’ first win at Stamford Bridge in 45 years on Boxing Day and, after being reminded that Blues boss Enzo Maresca described the crunch clash as being like a final in Chelsea’s chase for a Champions’ League place, Silva was clear about how important the fixture was for his side too.

He told his pre-match press conference at Motspur Park this afternoon:

“It’s [like] a final for us too. When you arrive in the final stages of the season, any game is going to be even more important because you have to get as many as points as you can to fight for what you want. First, it is a special derby for the fans. Being able to play the derby at home is very good. In the last two years we have been getting good results in the story of this club against Chelsea. The way we have been doing that has been very good for the football club – and let’s hope we can do the same against a very good side.

All of us recognise the quality they have collectively and individually. The way they have been able to play the whole season in the Premier League and the Conference League with [almost] two [different] teams shows the quality they have around the place. They have a lot of young but very good players, and it’s going to be a very difficult game for us, [but] with our fans, with our quality, with our ambition and our passion to play this type of game, and the will and the desire to bounce back from the last game, is going to be crucial for us to get a good result.”

Asked specifically about Tony Khan’s desire to keep him at Fulham forever, Silva highlighted how he has steered the side to new heights since winning the Championship in his first campaign at the Cottage:

“When I first joined, the club was down. The club was down, the fans were not happy – that happens when you have a bad season. You can’t hide [from] this. It was a process – the main one was the way to create our own identity and our philosophy to play and to make the fans closer to ourselves. I think we did it perfectly in the first season in a different competition [when Fulham won the Championship] and the club is now in a very different place that was very far away three years ago.

The environment and relationship that we have here is normal – it is something that we create in the all of the clubs I have been working so far. My face doesn’t lie – the happiness is different, when you have good results, but to be honest, the relationship with the staff and the people at the top of the club, I’m talking about the chairman, Tony, Al, we have been able to replicate that in the other clubs too, because it is the way I see football. It is the way I behave myself and the way my staff and these type of relationships are always there. It is about seeing the football club grow and be successful. That is an important thing too.”