Fulham manager Marco Silva is looking forward to his first trip to Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Our Head Coach spent a season-and-a-half at the Everton helm, and enjoyed each of his returns to Goodison Park with Fulham, but it’s a fresh era for the club now they’ve moved into their new home at Bramley-Moore Dock.
“It's going to be a good feeling, for sure,” Silva replied when asked about the trip. “It’s always good when you go back to a place where you are going to see familiar faces and some people that you know very well, and people that treat you very, very well.
“Some people in that structure, some players, they are still there from our time as well. And what I expect is always the same that I got the other times before, to have some good conversation before and after the match with people that I know very, very well, and people that welcome us always very well in that football club.
“[But] when we start the kick-off, each one is going to try to win the game, as always. That is the main thing.
“Of course, Goodison was a special one. Okay, [moving] was the step that the club should give, and they gave. They are pleased with the place where they are playing right now, and it’s going to be the first time, first experience for us in that stadium.
“But you can feel it, you can see it, that it’s been very, very good for them in that aspect, and we are going to embrace the challenge of playing there against a good side. A side with a very experienced manager, some mature players as well.
“They added some great individuals for their squad, and it’s going to be a tough game, like always when you play away from home in the Premier League, when you play away from home against an Everton side, is always very difficult.
“But we have to look back, and the way this group of players changed completely the story of this football club recently against Everton away from home, just shows what we have been doing.”
Marco Silva celebrates victory over Everton in the Carabao Cup Quarter-Final in December 2023
Silva is alluding to a run that has seen Fulham claim seven of a possible nine points away to Everton under his tutelage, in addition to success in a Carabao Cup Quarter-Final.
The Toffees, though, are unbeaten in four of their five Premier League matches at the Hill Dickinson, but when asked if we can continue our good away run against them, Silva said: “Let’s hope. It’s our goal, definitely is our goal.
“Of course, Everton wants a different one, but we want to repeat the last few results there, and the good performance and the way we won the games that were very impressive in some moments. That is the main thing for us.
“They have been achieving good results at home so far. Of course, I know that they lost their last one at home [0-3 against Tottenham Hotspur], but they have been achieving good results so far.
“The impact of the new stadium and the home games is there clearly, if you want to analyse, but it's up to us. Our recent away form has not been good enough in terms of results, and we want to change it. The next one is Everton, and it's another opportunity for us to do it.”