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Fulham manager Roy Hodgson |
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Manager Roy Hodgson believes Fulham's strikers can provide the firepower to secure the club's Barclays Premier League status.
Brian McBride's return to fitness has given the struggling Cottagers a real boost in recent weeks and his partnership with Eddie Johnson has looked full of potential.
Hodgson's striking options could be boosted further by Finland international Jari Litmanen who could be on the bench against Sunderland.
"A team that doesn't score many goals will always be tending to rotate strikers to try to find the right man,'' Hodgson said.
"Of course, McBride was virtually out from the beginning until now. We've been fairly stable in our choices.
"We haven't chopped and changed too much but we've got quite a lot of strikers at the club. They all want to play and they're all committed to the task so it's fairly obvious that when we are not scoring enough goals they will get chances.
"I think creating goal scoring opportunities is an area that has improved over the last few weeks and I hope that improvement will continue and give us further momentum. I'm quite confident that the strikers we have at the club at the moment can help us in that respect.
"Certainly on the training field I see their enthusiasm, energy and motivation. I do know that they're all good enough players to score goals given the chance.''
One player who has yet to feature is Litmanen. The Finnish forward played for the reserves against Tottenham earlier this week and, despite his injury frustrations, is now ready to compete for a place on the bench in a healthy-looking squad.
"Jari is ready for the bench but my problem is quite a few players are ready for the bench. He played very well in the reserves this week which is good. He's training well and he's a very good player to have around,'' Hodgson said.
"He's an inspiration to everybody. His quality, professionalism and attitude to training - I'm delighted to have him here. He's a quality football player.''
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Sunderland boss Roy Keane |
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Sunderland boss Roy Keane will not thrash out his summer spending plans until Barclays Premier League safety is secured despite sending his chief executive into hiding.
The Black Cats have given their survival hopes a major boost in the last week with successive victories over Aston Villa and Fulham, their first in the top flight since December 2001.
A repeat at struggling Fulham - they have not won three Premier League games on the trot since December 2000 - would all but end their fears of being dragged into the scrap at the foot of the table.
Keane made major headlines when he suggested he would be asking chairman Niall Quinn and his Drumaville consortium for £50million on top of the £44million he has already spent with which to strengthen his squad this summer.
However, while Keane remains hugely ambitious for the future, he is not even considering the way ahead until he has dealt with the present.
Asked about his comments at a charity dinner in Ireland earlier this week, he said with a smile: "Peter Walker (Sunderland chiec executive) has gone missing. He is the one who is worried. He has gone AWOL.
"I spoke to the media constantly when I was over there doing the Guide Dogs thing and they will pick one or two bits and make headlines out of it.
"But I also made it clear, listen, we have got some hard work ahead. The priority for us is to make sure we are in the Premier League and we will sit down in the summer, like every manager will be doing.
"The summer is an important time at any club, like ourselves last year.
"We want to make sure first and foremost we are in the Premier League, and then try to move on to the next level.
"But I am not looking to get ahead of myself, I am well aware there is hard work to do this season.''
That said, Keane's vision for the Wearside club remains unchanged as he approaches the end of his second season at the helm.
He said: "Of course, otherwise what is the point of being here? You have got to believe you can go on to bigger and better things.
"That's what the fans demand, that was part of my original discussions with Niall and the board, that it has got to be all or nothing, let's not do things half-heartedly.''
Keane will be without midfielder Dwight Yorke, who damaged a knee in training, but otherwise has no fresh injury concerns.