Marco Silva unique: Fulham head coach says membership should embrace stress of European push and club-record factors complete bid

Seven video games to set a club-record Premier League factors complete and earn a European spot. Are Fulham going to really feel the stress?

“We set the target at the beginning of the season for us to arrive in the final stages fighting for something important,” head coach Marco Silva tells Sky Sports activities.

“It is not extra pressure or more pressure for us. It is a privilege to have this type of thing. It is what I want.

“It’s the stress that I placed on myself, my workers, my gamers and now if we have now the prospect to battle [for it], we have now to embrace it.”

Fulham are on a excessive once more after changing into solely the second aspect this season to topple Liverpool and the primary to do it on dwelling turf. The victory got here on the finish of their hardest second of the season, an FA Cup quarter-final defeat at dwelling to Crystal Palace after which a loss at Arsenal.

“What makes the difference between the normal sides and the good sides is the way you are able to bounce back and the way you are able to show the character and the personality as a team,” says Silva, whose crew want two extra wins to surpass the Premier League file Roy Hodgson’s crew set in 2009.

The end result was an announcement in how Silva has aimed to vary the membership’s mentality when enjoying towards the highest sides. They’ve overwhelmed Nottingham Forest and Newcastle twice this season, plus Chelsea.

“I remember the first season in the Premier League, against teams that were below us, most of the time we were able to get the points. Against teams that were above us, we were not able to,” says Silva. “It was something that I was questioning almost every single week.

“It was one thing that we modified utterly by way of our mindset. Slight issues within the method, however mindset far more. Our bravery and our ambition for these video games and to not change something. To respect our identification and our philosophy as properly.”

Between 2018 and 2022, Fulham had been both promoted or relegated every season however since returning to the Premier League below Silva, they’ve completed tenth and thirteenth with out the specter of relegation.

They’ve carried out it after shedding their two finest gamers within the final two summers, striker Aleksandar Mitrovic and midfielder Joao Palhinha. “Other teams when they sell their main strikers, they go and they spend everything in their position. We are not able to do it. We solve it in a different way.”

Raul Jimenez and Rodrigo Muniz have each hit double figures in all competitions. Antonee Robinson’s 10 assists is probably the most of any defender within the Premier League. Alex Iwobi and Calvin Bassey have each improved to change into key gamers.

In a season the place the three promoted golf equipment, Southampton, Leicester and Ipswich, are all more likely to go straight again down, it’s a vital achievement that Fulham have established themselves within the prime flight.

It’s why Silva has been linked with jobs at Manchester United and Tottenham. Fulham will likely be determined to maintain him with a yr left on his contract. Does he deserve extra credit score?

“That is not for me to talk about. My focus is really on my job, what I can control,” he says.

“What I can control is the way my team is going to play. It’s the philosophy that I want in the team. The identity that I always try for my players to have, to make them better players individually and collectively. To make the club better every single week, every single month, every single season. That is the main thing for me.

“We’ve been doing implausible issues on the pitch.”

Fulham have exceeded expectations below Silva and now he has the prospect to cement his legacy.

Watch Bournemouth vs Fulham from 6.30pm on Monday Evening Soccer, reside on Sky Sports activities; kick-off 8pm