Marco Silva hailed the win over Aston Villa as ‘massive’ after calling the match ‘must-win.’ Fulham held on to defeat the Villans 1-0 at Craven Cottage.
Marco Silva called Fulham’s 1-0 win over Aston Villa ‘massive’ after the club held on to claim the three points in a ‘must-win’ clash at Craven Cottage.
Ryan Sessegnon’s goal shortly before half-time was enough for the home side to take their 14th Premier League win of the season.
That is more than any team outside of the league’s top five and shows the extraordinary work that Silva has done with the club.
The win also put Fulham right back into contention for the European places, with the Cottagers now level on points with Chelsea in eighth and just a point behind Bournemouth in seventh.
It leaves the west London side right amongst it with four matches to go in the Premier League season, with their record points tally likely needing to be broken to reach that too.
The Portuguese was not mistaken on the importance of the Villa clash and was delighted the win kept his side amongst the European chasing teams.
Silva told TNT Sports: “Great win for us, a massive three points.
“We knew before the match, sometimes it is harsh to say, but it was a must-win match for us.
“We want to really keep competing for something special until the end of the season, to keep ourselves around the places for the European competitions.
“We knew that against a very good side, it's always difficult to keep them with 0 goals in a game, even if you are controlling the game.
“The capacity they have with the frontline, that position from Buendia and McGinn.
“It is always difficult to control, the timings to press is very difficult as well.
“I am pleased, very pleased with our first half, our first half was very good.
“We had good moments on the ball and good moments off the ball, second half, less time on the ball of course, they reacted, but I think we kept them very quiet.”
Fulham now have four more matches this season to finish off the job and book themselves a spot in Europe, something that has alluded them since 2012.
Arsenal away represents a particularly difficult challenge in their next clash, before a ginormous home game against a Bournemouth side who are unbeaten since January 3 and have lost fewer games than every other team bar the top two.
If Fulham are still in the mix after those two matches, they then face bottom-of-the-league Wolves and a Newcastle side that have lost their last four matches, which they will surely back themselves to do something special.