While acknowledging the importance of Fulham’s fixtures this week, Fulham Head Coach Scott Parker says the results will not make or break our season.
The Whites travel to the sides immediately above and below us in the table; Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday before tackling West Bromwich Albion at the weekend.
When asked in his pre-match press conference if the next two matches would be ‘pivotal’ for the Club, he replied: “I think they’re big, I don’t think they’re the be all and end all. We’re halfway through a season here.
“Of course they’re big because of where both teams are in the division and where our competition will probably be this year, but I don’t think they’re the be all and end all as there’s still a lot of games.
“I still feel as a team we’re improving and we’ve developed, I feel like I have a team here that can go and win two, three games back-to-back. You may think that’s mad to say that because we’ve won two all year, but that’s the way I feel.
“We all understand these are big games coming up for us. We’ve come out of a run of fixtures over the last nine games where we’ve played seven of the biggest teams in the division, the toughest teams, and we’ve done pretty well.
“We need to take this next step which are games against teams in and around us, and we need to try and get some results.
“We’ve shown that we can compete in this division. We do need to turn these draws and some of these losses into wins, we understand that. Hopefully we can do that against Brighton, West Brom, Leicester at home, the teams we’ve got coming up.”
Victory at the Amex Stadium in midweek would move us to within two points of Brighton, with a game in hand, but Parker believes Graham Potter’s team are perhaps in a false position in the standings.
“They’re a good side,” he said. “They probably shouldn’t be where they are, because I think Graham’s done a fantastic job with the team.
“They have individuals in their team who have been operating in the Premier League now for some time, hence the quality they have in their squad.
“They’re a very, very good footballing side, a lovely footballing side that can cause you real problems.
“They’ve got a real structure about them in the way they play, their specific movements. They’re a very well-coached team.”