Marco Silva wants his Fulham side to believe that they can defeat Arsenal at Craven Cottage on Sunday.
The Gunners are currently enjoying a five point lead at the top of the Premier League, and when asked if his side can put a dent in their title aspirations, Silva replied: “I don’t know, but we are going to do our best, definitely.
“We are trying, it is a football match, and all of you know already what we are capable of doing.
“We have to believe in ourselves, this is the main thing for us and the most important thing, to believe in ourselves, the way we are going to play.
“We know that in some moments they are going to obligate us to do some things that we don’t like really, even playing at home, but we have to be able to handle that situation enough to play our game.
“We know that we are going to play against one of the better teams in this country, because from the beginning of the season they are at the top of the table, they have been really consistent, playing good football, adapting really well and reacting well when they don’t achieve a good result – straightaway comes the reaction.
“A good example was after the defeats against City at home and Everton, two bad results but straightaway after they reacted well and won some important games.
“They are getting the maturity and the experience to react in the right way and it will be a really tough game for us, but we are going to do our best again to be really tough for Arsenal.
“It was tough for them in the first game we played away from home, and for sure at the Cottage we want to make things even more difficult for them. We feel good at home, it will be a tough game, but I think it will be a tough game for them as well.”
Arsenal have had a busy week, having played out a 2-2 draw in Lisbon in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday, but Silva doesn’t expect that to affect the Gunners going into the weekend’s London derby.
“Let’s see – you know that Arsenal have been doing this so far,” he explained. “I think their approach to the Europa League is always different than Premier League.
“Of course, they have some players injured and some illness during this week. But, even so, they rested five players at least, and from the first Europa League match this season they have approached it in a different way, they have rotated the team and they have managed really well the situation.
“And what I saw from yesterday, they did again the same, they rotated the team, they had some key players that didn’t start the game, and it will be a strong Arsenal [on Sunday] for sure.
“Okay, it’s not a normal week, yesterday they had the game, the travel situation, but I think all of us understand that they rotate the team and, of course, they will be a very strong side on Sunday.”
