Fulham manager Marco Silva has been happy with Fulham’s start to the Premier League campaign, but is already demanding more.
Fulham have lost, won and drawn their opening three games, and are looking to make it back-to-back victories at the Cottage when they take on West Ham tomorrow.
“It’s been a solid start,” the boss explained. “It’s something that’s really important for us.
“I think from the last two Premier League seasons, the solid starts that we had made an impact on the rest of the season. The confidence is different, we know what we are capable of, and this is a good thing.
“When you analyse, for example, our last game against Ipswich (a 1-1 draw), we know our capacity is to play much better than we did in one month’s time, two month’s time, three month’s time.”
With a new-look squad assembled by manager Julen Lopetegui, West Ham are not a side to be underestimated according to Marco.
“In the Premier League, you never know. You can play against a club that is at the top and win, and sometimes you can play against other clubs and it’s not like that.
“We have to always be at our top level. If not, you are going to get surprised and we don’t want that.
“It’s going to be the first London derby this season. It’s always something special for the fans and we want to start well.
“It’s going to be at the Cottage and we know that we are really strong with the fans behind us. Let’s see, it’s going to be a tough game for both sides.”
Facing the media at Motspur Park, the gaffer was asked if new signings such as Joachim Andersen or Reiss Nelson would feature.
“Both are going to be involved in the squad list, like Sander (Berge), like some of the others, and it’s up to me to make a decision.
“(Jorge) Cuenca is more than ready to play. We are really pleased to have him with us. And (with Nelson) we’ll take the time that he needs to adapt, but we can feel straight away that he’s a skilful player and he’s going to help us.”
The last time Fulham faced the Hammers in SW6, they delivered a 5-0 drubbing, but there’s no sign of complacency from Marco.
“When you have players like (Jarrod) Bowen, (Mohammed) Kudus, (Lucas) Paquetá, and all the players around them, you are talking about top, top players. They are going to demand a lot of concentration from ourselves, good organisation, and a lot of aggressiveness for us to control the game.”