Martin Jol has admitted he is worried by Fulham’s league position as they go into their festive fixtures – and is desperate for Bryan Ruiz and Mahamadou Diarra to come to his rescue.

Fulham sit 13th in the table and travel to Liverpool this weekend having won just one Barclays Premier League game away from home.

Jol confessed he is concerned by the slender five-point margin separating his side from the bottom three, not to mention the four-point return from their past six games, and insisted his side need Ruiz and Diarra back from hamstring and knee injuries respectively if they are to save themselves.

He said: ‘I am worried, it’s a worry. It’s always a worry when you are in the bottom nine or 10. I told you at the start of the season that there would be 11 or 12 clubs fighting to get out of this situation.

‘We had a good start and are two points ahead of our points tally from last year but we need points and we need players so hopefully next week our better players, like Bryan Ruiz and Diarra, are back.

‘Before that we have to find a result against Liverpool.’