Kenny Tete has urged his Fulham team-mates to retain their belief after the Whites’ seven-match winning streak was ended by the midweek stalemate with Derby County.
Wayne Rooney’s Rams battled hard to hold Fulham to a draw at Craven Cottage on Wednesday night, but the Dutch full back believes that – with an illness ripping through the squad earlier this week – the point was not the worst result for Marco Silva’s side. Tete told FFC this afternoon:
“No, it’s not the worst thing. We had some chances to finish it, we didn’t do it but they didn’t score, another clean sheet and one point. We are lucky that Bournemouth didn’t win and unfortunately we didn’t win the game. We’re looking forward to tomorrow.”
Tete shared his disappointment at being unable to contribute to Fulham’s fine start to the season beyond August after being sidelined until earlier this month after tearing his hamstring.
“I was really frustrated. I thought I was in good shape, felt good and I didn’t expect that the injury would be that long. I worked hard, really happy to be back. I feel good – I still feel sometimes something, but that’s normal with this injury. It will get better game by game.”
The right back was delighted to mark his return to the starting line-up against Barnsley with a trademark cross for Aleksandar Mitrovic to open the scoring.
“I was obviously really happy to get that assist. I worked hard for it and I’m happy that I could help the team. With Mitro, it’s easy to score for them.”
He knows that Preston will pose a particular test tomorrow afternoon, but feels that if Fulham remain true to Silva’s gameplan then they stand every chance of coming away from Deepdale with three points.
“In the Championship, every week it is a battle, it is fight. Every team can beat everyone. If I am honest, I think we have to look at our qualities and I think that we have a lot of qualities. We have to believe in our strengths, play our game and that I know that it will be good.”
