John Arne Riise wants Fulham to take advantage of Tottenham Hotspur’s hectic schedule when Martin Jol returns to his former club on Sunday.
The Cottagers have not been in competitive action since the 2-2 draw at Sunderland on March 2 after being knocked out of the FA Cup.
Tottenham, in contrast, will have played three additional fixtures by the time they face Fulham and Riise is hopeful that Spurs’ busy run can work in their favour.
“It’s one of the toughest matches because of the way they play and they’re in good shape,” Riise told Fulham’ official website.
“But they have a heavy schedule right now as they’re playing in the Europa League so hopefully they’ll be a bit tired.”
The Norway full-back is not expecting an easy afternoon across London and added: “They still have one of the best players in the league at the moment in Gareth Bale.
“He can’t stop scoring and he’s a fantastic person as well. They’ve got Aaron Lennon on the other side too and good players all over the pitch.
“It will be nice to see Mousa Dembele and Clint Dempsey again but it will be a very tough game for us. That’s the type of game we’ll go into to try and get at least a point.”
The fixture also represents the chance for Fulham to make amends after the 3-0 home defeat to their London rivals at Craven Cottage earlier this term.
“We should have won that game but somehow lost,” said Riise.
“But every game has its own life and, as I said, they have a busy schedule, whereas we’ll have had a free weekend.
“We’ll train well and prepare our best for it and we look forward to it. It’s a derby and anything can happen.”
