Marco Silva has reiterated his desire to create more history with Fulham – and wants his side to start by winning their first London derby of the season against West Ham United at Craven Cottage tomorrow afternoon.
The Fulham boss, whose only absentee is Carlos Vinicius after the Brazilian striker suffered a calf injury in training, believes his team have made a solid start to the Premier League campaign but is determined to keep driving the Whites forward. Silva told his pre-match press conference at Motspur Park this afternoon:
“It’s been a solid start. It makes an impact for the rest of the season. We know we are capable to do better. We are going to play much better than we did [at Ipswich Town]. In the Premier League, you always have to be at your top level. If I was not happy, I would change [the team]. [Joachim] Andersen and [Sander] Berge were [signed] in the last days of the market, Sander didn’t have a full pre-season. It’s not easy to come and play straight away, they have to show their quality. It takes time for them to adapt.
We are going to do our best as normal to win the game. I’m sure our fans will play their part, they are crucial. Us together with them, let’s hope we can have a great result and get the three points. The goal is to make this club better and better every single day. We want to make people proud of us. When they see us playing, they see something they’re proud of. To see players fighting for the shirt.”
Silva is wary of West Ham’s quality even if the Hammers haven’t yet to hit top gear under Julen Lopetegui.
“They have quality players who can punish you, it’s going to demand a lot of concentration from ourselves.”
In my opinion the key to a result against West Ham is Silva’s own words: our players fighting for their shirts. That was the secret for many of last season’s best results.