Clint Dempsey says Fulham go into this afternoon’s clash with Aston Villa full of confidence after three straight wins vaulted them to eighth in the table.

The American midfielder feels that Fulham’s upturn in form recently has a lot to do with the fluidity of their football and the variety of the midfield movement. Martin Jol’s experiment with Moussa Dembele operating in central midfield has been an undoubted success, with the ploy giving Danny Murphy even more room in which to operate.

We definitely have a lot of players of real quality and we’re playing well at the moment. I think Danny [Murphy] and Mousa [Dembele] getting on the ball in the middle, with Mousa being able to evade players and find that pass behind the back line and then Danny with his vision – it’s a great combination.

We haven’t taken too many wins away from home but we’re on a good run of form, with three wins in a row and hopefully we can take that confidence into the game [against Aston Villa] and get a result. We’re just going to play on our quality and what we know we’re capable of and do the things that we do well and try to limit their chances. I think with the quality we have I think we’ll be able to create chances and it’ll just be a matter on the day if we can put them in the back of the net.

The Texan’s own goalscoring feats have been remarkable this season. Dempsey has scored eighteen goals, something all the more impressive when you consider that he missed Fulham’s early Europa League qualifiers having been on international duty with the United States. The man himself is typically bashful about his own exploits, however:

Things are going good. I’m just trying to chip in as many goals as I can and try to better myself every season and you know I’ve been able to do that this year.