Fulham manager Marco Silva is hoping for more of the same from the Craven Cottage crowd when we host Chelsea on Wednesday evening.
The home fans rallied behind the team big time on Sunday when they were under pressure from an improved Liverpool side in the second half, and were eventually rewarded by Harrison Reed’s worldie strike – one the Hammersmith End seemingly tried to suck into the goal.
“We need them, we need their help,” Silva replied when asked what role the supporters can play in the SW6 derby. “And they know, they know it’s important, they understand that.
“We are going to play at home, and we need them behind us. We felt during some moments of the Liverpool game, more second half that was more difficult for us, more after that goal when they equalised, the fans were behind the team.
“They pushed us in the last minutes of the game when we were trying to win the game, before the 2-1, they pushed us.
“The environment was incredible, and you know that in the next one [against Chelsea] it’s going to be slightly different because it's a special game, and from the first whistle until the last they are going to be completely behind ourselves.
“We need them, we need them in moments of more fatigue or something like that. We need them to push and to be that extra player that is going to be necessary for us to try to win the game.”
The last few meetings with our local neighbours have been very tight affairs – the away side snatched a late victory in both games in 2024/25, while the manner of our defeat at the Bridge this season remains a bitter pill to swallow.
“It's special,” Silva said of the fixture. “It’s special, because we know what's happened. We look for last season, how we won away, how we lost at home, both games with late goals.
“It really hurt ourselves, our fans, this football club, the way we were not able to win the game at Stamford Bridge [this season].
“The way the team performed almost perfectly first half, in a really tough game against a top, top side, the way the team performed, and everything that happened in that game, really hurt this football club. I'm not talking about one or two persons, or just the players – us, the football club, the way that things happened that Saturday morning.
“It is what it is – now it’s another opportunity for us to enjoy, to embrace a big challenge with our fans to play a derby like a derby should be played. Simple as that.
“It’s a new game, a new story. I don't want anyone to think about the past, we have to look for the future, and what’s going to be most important is the next one. It’s a special game.”