Bjorn Helge Riise has two main motivations in the closing weeks of the season. The Norwegian winger is eager to stake a claim for a first-team spot as Roy Hodgson rotates his side with the Europa League final uppermost in his mind – and he also wants to help Fulham finish in the top half of the Premier League.
Riise, who was impressive in the early stages of Fulham’s European run, has had to be patient in waiting for another first-team opportunity, but enjoyed his chance to shine against West Ham last weekend.
He said: “It was nice to play 90 minutes against West Ham and to win. A lot of the team haven’t played much recently so to beat West Ham 3-2 is a very positive result. I enjoyed it a lot and hopefully I’ll get to play a bit more in the last three games.
For those of us that were on the bench against Hamburg it was a chance to show that we can play football. That was important to us and we don’t want to lose games, especially in the last weeks of the season and especially when we have a final coming up. For us the aim is to get that 10th place, and if we beat Stoke we will be close to achieving that.”
