Raul Jimenez has challenged his Fulham team-mates to do even better next season.
The Mexican striker, whose fourteen goals for the Whites this term have earned him a contract extension at Craven Cottage, told Premier League Productions that he has ‘really enjoyed’ playing for Marco Silva’s side this season.
“We have been good. We achieved the points record in the last game. It was good, really enjoyable, to be playing in this team this season. We are attacking every game, playing how we want to play. But it’s football, not always are you going to be able to do that. We know we missed some good chances, as well, to be fighting even higher in the table, to maybe even be able to qualify for Europe. We had some good opportunities to achieve that, but we need to keep working on this, finish this season on a high, and then think about next season to do even better.”
The 34 year-old is delighted with his return to form in front of goal for both club and country – and wants to improve his numbers next year in the lead up to a home World Cup.
“I feel really good about it. It’s the first time since 2019/20 that I scored double figures [in terms of goals], so I’m really pleased about it. I really wanted to do something like that, and I hope I can score one or two more in the last game of the season to keep increasing the amount of goals I have. I want to continue like this, and hopefully next year it’s even better.”
Jimenez revealed that there was plenty of positivity in the away dressing room last Sunday after Silva’s side came back to beat Brentford and record Fulham’s highest Premier League points tally.
“It was a fantastic game. We know it’s a very important derby for all of us – the players, and also for the fans. We started the match playing well, we knew that it was going to be important for us to go in front and score first. Then we struggled a little bit at the end of the first half, but at half-time we spoke and we knew that we had the team to do better, some players coming from the bench making the difference. I think this season we are the team with the most goals from the bench, so that’s really important – it’s not only the starting XI that are focused on the game, as well the guys coming from the bench, they are focused on what they can do, and they changed the match.
It was a really good feeling in the dressing room after the game, because we have been talking about this for a couple of months. We knew that we were going to do it, but it was so difficult to achieve it. They had the same feeling two years ago – I wasn’t here, but they were so close to achieving it, and they were not able to do it, so they had this little thing inside them. I’m really happy to be part of Fulham history with this record.”
The former Wolves forward also spoke of his delight at extending his stay at Fulham alongside Sunday’s matchwinner Harry Wilson and Spanish winger Adama Traore.
“I’m really pleased. It’s what I wanted, to stay in the Premier League for more years. At least one more, let’s see how it goes next season. Harry has been more time here in the Club than Adama and me, he knows better the team, the Club. He has been really important during these years with the team. And also Adama, he showed in the last game, he gave two assists for the goals, and it’s always important to have a player like him in the team. Sometimes just knowing he’s on the pitch, the opponent starts thinking ‘how can I stop him?’”
Raul wants to finish on a high when Manchester City visit the Cottage in Sunday’s final game of the season.
“Well, it’s incredible to finish at home. Playing against [Manchester] City is going to be a big challenge, they’re still going to be fighting for Champions League. It’s going to be a good game, we are really pleased to play against them. We are now not fighting for [Europe], but we want to get as high in the table as we can.
