Andrew Johnson came through 83 minutes of a match in his first start since October against Swindon.

Fulham manager Roy Hodgson was delighted to have Johnson back but warned Fulham’s fans not to expect too much too soon from the £10.5million man, who has also suffered a spell on the sidelines with a shoulder injury this season.

“AJ gives us the threat behind and, of course, what he needs is games and constant training with the team,” the 62-year-old said.

“In fairness to him he has only done about a week, 10 days, of training with the team. At this time of year our training is spasmodic because of all the matches you play over the Christmas period, it is always after games, before games. There is never that week where you can do a proper couple of training sessions where you blast home your tactics.”