Fulham boss Marco Silva made a number of changes to his starting XI for our initial Emirates FA Cup clash with Sunderland, something he may consider again this week with Premier League action following just three days later.
“Let's see how many [changes] we are going to do,” he said in his pre-match press conference. “As you know, we are going to play on Wednesday evening, and we have Nottingham Forest Saturday, 3pm.
“Of course, as always, we look for the next match as the most important one, and the FA Cup is our focus, but we have to think at the same time about the next one.
“It has been a busy period, some of the players have been playing many, many games since Boxing Day, and we have to take care of it.
“But it will be a decision that I have to take, and the most important [game] for us will be the FA Cup right now, even if you make changes or not. The players that start the game, they will be the best players for the game.
“First, we have to reach the same type of motivation, the same type of enthusiasm, know how [Sunderland] are going to play.
“And we have to play our game, it doesn't matter if you make many changes or not, we have to play our game. We have to be Fulham Football Club, play to our strengths and play to win the football match.
“It will be difficult, like all the ties in the FA Cup. I think the game against them at home was a good example. But we have to do better than the last game.”
When asked if the Club’s strong league position means this could be the season we dream of FA Cup glory, Silva was quick to manage expectations and look no further ahead than our midweek trip to the Stadium of Light.
“I think it would [be phenomenal] for Fulham [to win the FA Cup], and for all the other clubs,” our Head Coach explained. “So many clubs want the same.
“For us, as I said before, it makes no sense looking ahead if we don't do our job well in Sunderland, and our focus is on Sunderland.
“I understand the question, of course we are in a very good position in the table and we are positive, we are confident as a football club, but we didn't achieve anything yet.
“We want to put all our focus in the FA Cup, and after against Nottingham Forest. And that's it to be honest, we don't want to talk about winning something that, if we don't do our job well on Wednesday, will not make sense.”