Marco Silva warns Fulham squad to ‘embrace the challenge’ in Liverpool clash
Cottagers moving to prove season is not yet over
arco Silva believes Fulham will “embrace the challenge” of Wednesday’s trip to Anfield in the same way they pushed Manchester City close on Sunday.
Despite losing 2-1 against City at Craven Cottage, Fulham put in a courageous display, which included Carlos Vinicius scoring a superb equaliser.
Silva hopes his side can tap into that performance when they visit an in-form Liverpool side who have risen to fifth, thanks to four wins on the bounce.
“We like to embrace the challenge,” Silva admitted. “It is not easy to start the game against a top side [City], one of the best in the world, and concede a penalty inside the second minute.
“Even so, we were able to react as a team, equalise, make it difficult for them and show personality. [Liverpool] are in a good moment right now and want to keep the momentum [going]. It is up to us to be ready. It will be difficult, but we like this type of challenge.”
While Jurgen Klopp’s team have had a largely off-colour season, they are finishing strongly.
Fulham’s campaign has been the opposite. Tipped for relegation, they have spent much of the season above tonight’s opponents, only to fall away in the last couple of months.
Willian could return from a hamstring injury, but Aleksandar Mitrovic still has two matches of his eight-game ban to serve. Tim Ream and Andreas Pereira are both out for the season after suffering injuries against City.
Fulham have been as high as fourth this season, and their campaign got off to an encouraging start when they held Liverpool to a 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage on the opening day.
Midfielder Harrison Reed hopes he and his team-mates can upset the odds again tonight. “A lot of people looked at that as a dead cert for Liverpool,” said Reed. “But we went into it with zero fear and maybe caught them and everyone else a bit by surprise.”