Fulham chairman Mohammed Al Fayed has been left purring by the start his club has made to the First Division campaign.

The Cottagers have lost just one of their first 20 league games and hold a nine-point lead over Birmingham, while also booking a Worthington Cup quarter-final date with Premiership outfit Liverpool.

Al Fayed said: "Obviously it is really exciting what is going on at Craven Cottage. I think the football being produced by Jean Tigana and the players does everybody at Fulham proud and I know that they are building respect and admiration for the kind of football we are playing everywhere we go."

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