Mark Schwarzer thinks Fulham’s fine league form means they are fully deserving of their chance to qualify for Europe when they face Everton in the final game of the season on Sunday.
Schwarzer has been in exceptional form since signing from Middlesbrough last summer and the goalkeeper has been one of the main reasons why Fulham’s defence has proved so strong over the course of the season. The Whites could clinch a spot in the Europa League with a win – or even a draw – against the FA Cup finalists at the weekend.
He told BBC London 94.9FM:
We’re in this position on merit. It’s not there through luck after 37 games. It’s been the tremendous performances throughout the season that have got us in the position we’re in now.
The key for us has been the consistency. We’ve been very fortunate with players not being injured and if there have been injuries they’ve just been minor little knocks along the way.
That’s really enabled us to get some games under our belts as a unit and have that consistency as a team and I think it’s worked very well for us.
Schwarzer’s happy to have proven those who questioned his decision to swap Middlesbrough for Fulham wrong.
When you’re at a club so long, people regard you as part of the furniture at times and I think that I was definitely categorised as someone who was probably past his best. I think that’s one of the reasons why the club were not too forthcoming in really trying to keep me there.
But from my point of view I knew that my time was up and I really needed to move on and have a new experience and new challenge. For me it was always important to play as much as possible because I’ve still got the ambition to play for Australia at the highest level and to hopefully play in another World Cup which was always a massive incentive for me.
