Fulham manager Marco Silva knows a tough start to the 2025/26 season awaits, but is looking forward to the test that Brighton & Hove Albion will provide.
A last gasp penalty in March earned the Seagulls a first ever Premier League victory over Fulham, and Silva is hoping his side can get back into the habit of taking points away from the Amex Stadium.
“Some great games with them,” he said. “It’s a place where normally our fanbase is there in a great number. We like to feel that challenge ahead of us, with our fans behind us, even if we are playing away from home.
“They are very demanding games, they demand this from any team that goes there to play against them, because they are a very good side.
“We are going to be ready for it, for the demands of the game, and our ambition is to go and to play at our best level, because the game is going to demand that.
“You have to be very careful in all the moments of the game to take the best from ourselves, to try to win the game.
“When you play against Brighton, you expect always a team who is a threat in the front line, always with technical players, very good players, and very creative midfielders as well.
“And, of course, a backline in some positions with enough experience and maturity in the Premier League to be a very, a very tough day for us. But we are going to do our maximum to make it very difficult for them, too.”
Fulham broke our record Premier League points tally last season, and Silva is keen to get even more on the board this time around.
“When you achieve something so, so important, breaking the points record for the football club for the first time in many, many, many years, and it was a great achievement from this group of players.
“Of course, we have to set some targets again, and I did it straightaway after the last match against [Manchester] City, when I spoke with the group about our season, about the achievement, about everything.
“We set certain standards again. If you reach something, of course, as an ambitious group of players and staff, you want more.
“And, of course, we are looking to try to break the record because we know we are able to do this season even better than last one.
“It’s what we want – that is the ambition, that is the ambition of the group.”