Fulham play host to second placed Manchester City on Saturday as the Whites look to bolster their points total. Although Lawrie Sanchez’ men have made a good start to the season in terms of performances, they will be eager to see that form reflected in their Premiership position.
Clint Dempsey will be in contention to lead Fulham’s attacking line on Saturday and the American international has made no secret of his desire to make Craven Cottage a hard place for opponents to visit.
“It’s very important to get points at home,” he said. “We definitely have a good atmosphere there. I haven’t been here long, but it seems like from the time I’ve been here the atmosphere has got better and better. It gives us something to look forward to. Not only are we getting better as a team, but the atmosphere the fans create is getting better as well.
“I think that with every game we’re playing better and better football. The most important thing is results, but putting in good performances is just behind that. When you’re playing good football it’s fun to be out there and I think we’re doing a better job of passing the ball around, being more creative and creating chances, so it’s exciting. It’s definitely more exciting than it was last season, for me at least.”
Much has previously been made of the difficulties player face in adapting to life in the Premiership, and Dempsey was certainly thrown into the deep end last season during Fulham’s flirt with the relegation zone. However the attacker admitted that he found little difficulty in making the transatlantic switch.
“I thought the biggest challenge for me would be the food and the weather, but to my surprise the weather has been good,” he said. “I wasn’t here in the summer too much when it was flooding, but when I came over here, from late January to May there were a good amount of days when it was sunny. I thought it was going to be raining every single day and that wasn’t the case! I’ve been backwards and forwards to the States and to Hong Kong and it seems that the times I haven’t been here, the weather has been bad so maybe I’m blessed.
He continued, “And the food is good. I thought it was going to be a big difference in quality but it’s been good. I’ve eaten a lot of European cuisines that I hadn’t tried because in the States I was stuck with the same things; Mexican food and traditional American food like barbecues, hot dogs, hamburgers and pizza, but here I can eat sushi, Asian Food, Indian food, and I’m eating more seafood in general. So it’s been good, the restaurants are nice over here.”
