Bobby's Back

Bobby Zamora will return to Fulham's First Team fold on Tuesday night when the Whites take on Burnley (KO 8pm) at the Cottage after missing last weekend’s draw at Bolton through illness.

There was further good news regarding midfielder Simon Davies, who has also recovered in time for Tuesday’s game, as Roy Hodgson explained on Monday afternoon.

“Bobby’s fine and has recovered from his sickness,” said Hodgson. “He’s back in contention, as is Simon Davies, which is good.

“That’s at least two of the injured players back tomorrow. To be fair I’ve not really counted Bobby when I’ve talked about the injured players because it was a sickness which kept him out of one game.

“He [Zamora] doesn’t belong in the group of six or seven that we’ll have to do without for a long period.

“We’ve barely got 18 players to be quite honest. There’s no longer a selection problem at this Club – it’s ‘have we got 18 players to field the eleven places and the sub spots'.

“Until we get back to a situation when the squad starts to resemble a normal size and we start to get players back of the ability of Pantsil, Konchesky, Dempsey and Dikgacoi – it’s going to be difficult for us.”

Competing on three fronts this season, married with the Club’s current injury crisis, is certainly testing Fulham’s First Team squad to the limits, as Hodgson explained on Monday.

“We can’t ignore the fact that playing FA Cup matches, when other teams are out of the competition, and UEFA Europa League matches, when other teams aren’t playing, is placing a burden on our resources and the League matches that follow are that much more difficult for us.

“Burnley's personnel is roughly the same and I would imagine they’re still playing the same type of football. I haven’t studied Burnley that much. That’s one of the major problems; with the games coming so thick and fast you don’t get the week to give the next opponent the amount of thought and attention you would like to.

“Of course we’ve got our videos and scouting reports and we will prepare the Team as usual. Personally I don’t have the same feeling that I know Burnley as well as I would say know Arsenal or Manchester United if we were playing them come Tuesday.”