Fulham manager Roy Hodgson today insisted the only target he has set his side is Premier League survival despite being showered with plaudits for his team’s play.
Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger, whose team was beaten at Craven Cottage last month, and Gary Megson, of Bolton, who lost 2-1 on Saturday, both expressed admiration for the way Hodgson has succeeded with his emphasis on a passing game.
Yet despite Fulham now lying seventh in the table with a game in hand on five teams above them, Hodgson insisted: ‘We’re not going to get carried away. My job is to keep our feet on the ground. We know that our job in the league is to survive. That’s where we’ve set out our stall and we’ll be grateful for every point we take.”
Hodgson believes 40 points will see Fulham safe, and that target should be easily attainable if Bobby Zamora and Andy Johnson continue to gel as they did against Bolton.
Zamora and the busy Zoltan Gera got the goals for Fulham, but Johnson did enough to show why Hodgson was willing to spend £10.5million on bringing the former Crystal Palace striker back to London from Everton.
Jimmy Bullard described the new attacking partnership of Zamora and Johnson as ‘awesome’.
He went on: ‘You’ve got a classic No9 in Bobby, who is a big, strong physical boy who holds up play. And you’ve got Andy who gets in behind and stretches defences.
‘Andy wasn’t 100 per cent fit, fit, but I felt he and Bobby were the difference for us.’
