Marco Silva has warned his Fulham side of the threat posed by a Crystal Palace side, who are much improved under Oliver Glasner, and have won their last three fixtures.
The Eagles have been boosted by the return of Michael Olise and Ebere Eze and Silva knows that Saturday’s opponents will be a tough nut to crack at Craven Cottage. The Fulham head coach told his pre-match press conference this afternoon:
“You can see the results, you can see the performances as well. It’s always a big help when you have some key players recovering from injuries as well. You can see Palace, no doubts, they are much stronger if they have Eze and Olise in a very good level, and [Jordan] Ayew in a very good level as well. Now they have these players around and they have a striker in very good form, too – that is [Jean-Philippe] Mateta in very good form.
When you have two young lads, but already with some experience, like Eze and Olise at their top level, they are players that can make a difference against any team in this competition because, in my opinion, they are really two top players. It’s up to us now. As I said before, we have to reach our standards, we have to be at our best level – it’s going to be tough for them as well – but yes, they are in a good moment.
When you win three in a row in the Premier League, the way they did it, is a very good sign. It means that they have been solid, they have been compact, at the same time they have been showing the quality to score goals, and it’s going to be a very good challenge for us.”
Silva has challenged his charges to match Palace and provide a response to the disappointing second half against Liverpool last Sunday.
“I think first we have to look for ourselves really, what we can do. We have a way to play, we have a way to approach the games, and this normally doesn’t change because we play against team A, B, C, or D, or against player A, B, C, or D.
Of course, we are aware of the threat they are in certain areas of the pitch, certain players as well. For me, Palace has much more value as a collective, but they have key players that you have to control in certain moments of the game, yes.”
