Scott Parker insists his Fulham players will be fired up for their local derby with Brentford on Friday that could prove crucial to both clubs promotion hopes.
The Whites have the added motivation of avenging their defeat at Griffin Park in December and Parker was quick to praise the achievements of Thomas Frank at Brentford.
“It’s a massive game for us, a London derby against a team that’s just behind us in the table, a team who when we played them earlier in the season put in a very good performance against us. I felt that day we were a little bit off it, but I think they were well worthy of the three points. They’ve done very well this year, so there’s a big task ahead of us. There’s always challenges ahead, and Friday will be that certainly.”
He knows that Fulham will need to be defensively strong with Brentford’s forward line – comprising of Ollie Watkins, Bryan Mbeumo and Said Benrahma – having scored 46 goals between them.
“A very good front three. They’re right up there in this division. They’re powerful boys who have scored a lot of goals between them. We realise the dangers they possess in that front line. I think all over the pitch they’re a very good side. But as always we’ll have prepared as well as we can.
“We’ve come out of the back of some very good form of late and we’re in a good place, so I suspect we’ll go out there and put in a really good performance to try and take the points.”
Parker hopes that the football authorities will be able to avoid completing the season behind closed doors as fears raise about the impact of the current coronavirus uncertainty.
“I’d rather not play without a crowd. I think anyone sitting in my position, as a football manager or football player, would either want a crowd, or not play and play another time. Obviously it’s not the same in terms of the atmosphere and what makes our game so good. As a player, having a crowd behind you, especially a home crowd, is always good. As a football manager, and even if I was in the players’ shoes, I want to be running out with thousands of our home fans supporting us, rather than none.”
“But I’m not qualified to speak about it, the people who are skilled in that department will decide.
“It’s easy for me to sit here and say let’s postpone it and that I’d rather play with a crowd in two weeks’ time, but the dynamics of the division, the Euros, next season, there’s loads [of factors].”
