Fulham came back from a goal down to beat Man City 3-1 at Eastlands in Sunday afternoons live Sky Sports match thanks to goals from Dickson Etuhu and two from Clint Dempsey.
After falling a goal down, against the run of play, it would’ve been easy for Fulham to have folded but self belief is something that Hodgson believed allowed them to come back into the match and get the win: ‘I think belief is always a key,’ Hodgson told Sky Sports. ‘We could have easily, after the disappointment of last week and going a goal down in the first half in a game where you’ve had more than your fair share, thought it’s not going your way.
‘But you’ve got to fight those things and keep playing the same way and keep doing what we’re doing, the chances will come and we’ll score goals and that’s what happened today.’
This win has increased the chances of Fulham gaining a UEFA Europa League place next season with the gap between them and West Ham in that final 7th place spot down to just a point, yep Hodgson refuses to get too carried away about their chances, he adding: ‘I think there are a lot of teams still involved there. The important thing for us is to keep up the good work.
‘There are six games to play, we need more points from those six games and we will see if that points total is enough at the end of the day.
‘After the season we had last season to get into the Uefa Cup in my opinion is asking too much.’
Hodgson has already expressed concerns that qualification into Europe will increase the expectations levels (and maybe even cost him his job) but his hopes for next season are merely to finish in a mid table berth as that would please him, also adding: ‘If we get into the Uefa Cup you’ll be asking me if we can get into the UEFA Champions League. I think I’ll keep expectation lower than that.
‘It would be very, very nice to stay in the top half of the table. If you could guarantee me that now I would sign for it straight away.’
It was a good response by Fulham following the injury-time defeat at Craven Cottage last weekend (when Liverpool beat them 1-0) to come back and beat Man City, but is this enough to really make you think Fulham can get that European place?
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