Fulham Coach Claudio Ranieri anticipates a tough match on Saturday, but will be gunning for all three points against Huddersfield Town.
“It’s a tough match, a crucial one for us and Huddersfield,” he said.
“We’re at home and we need to win. We need the three points.
We’re playing well without achieving the three points, but we need to be positive and look forward, then we can make something good.
“For us, it’s important to think about ourselves, and match-by-match.
“It’s a crucial match because the players follow me, the crowd are behind us and push hard and I hope to give them a very good present on Saturday evening.
“The crowd are very important because they are our energy. It’s important to feel their warmth. The players will do their best.”
Ryan Sessegnon marked his return to action with a goal against Wolves on Boxing Day, and Fulham’s Manager has outlined the importance of having different options available during the busy festive period.
“It’s important that the coach has a choice to change players and give a chance to everybody,” he said.
“The rest continue to work hard all season.
It’s important for me to choose – maybe we’ll start with [Andre] Schürrle, or maybe we’ll start with Sessegnon, but the team remains the same.
Schürrle is an experienced player, while Sessegnon is young and fresh.
He’s young, needs experience, needs to play, look when he’s on the bench and improve his strength because when there is a tackle, he’s not so strong – he needs to be a little more aggressive.”
Aleksandar Mitrovic scooped up his fifth Man of the Match award of the season for his dogged display against Wolves, and Ranieri is very confident that the goals his all-round play deserves will come soon.
“He was unlucky, but that’s the life of the striker – sometimes you have momentum, sometimes you don’t,” he said.
“I want the team together, and he’s made very good sacrifices, closed the space, and was ready on the counter-attack. That’s my way to try and save this team.
“I think we need to continue in this way.
We’ve created chances, missed chances, if we continue to create chances, sooner or later we’ll score.”
