Roy Hodgson confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that Fulham will be without a host of First Team players for Thursday night’s Europa League clash with Juventus at the Cottage.
“We’ve got a lot of players missing,” confirmed Hodgson. “Nine players are missing from the original First Team and 12 if we include the players that are training with us at the moment.
"The three major injuries and illnesses are Johnson, Pantsil and Elm. Murphy and Greening are suspended. Then we have Okaka, Andranik, Shorey, Milsom, Brown and Stoor unavailable because they weren’t put on the original list back in September.
“Then we have Matthew Briggs unavailable because he was loaned out in January. Although he’s a B list player he’s not allowed to be put back on again.
“For a small squad like ours to be missing twelve players, who could possibly be taking part in the game is an awful lot, but luckily we’ve still got 18 players left who I hope can do the job for us.”
After sustaining a chest injury against Manchester United last weekend, Brede Hangeland returned to training earlier than expected on Wednesday morning. However the defender will face a late fitness test ahead of Fulham’s European showdown against Juventus, as Hodgson explained.
“Brede trained on Wednesday morning after taking a severe blow to his chest against Manchester United. He’s recovered certainly much quicker than we expected but a decision will be made tomorrow [Thursday].
“On Thursday we’ll see the reaction after today’s training and what another 24 hours has done to allow the injury to settle. Luckily I have a very good player who can replace him in Chris Smalling, who is another top class centre back.”
Hangeland's fellow Norwegian international, Bjorn Helge Riise, has certainly suffered his fair share of pain in recent days. The midfielder, who Hodgson described as an ‘iron man’ on Wednesday, is likely to make the bench on Thursday night despite spending the past few days in hospital.
“Bjorn Helge Riise trained for the first time today [Wednesday]. He was seriously ill. He was ill the day before the game against Juventus in Torino and spent two and a half days in hospital being fed intravenously.
“He’s an iron man really, because to get out of the hospital yesterday morning and get treatment yesterday afternoon and then come in for training this morning, albeit a very light session, is very surprising.
“With our situation and shortage of players I’m sure he’ll be on the bench. In a better world, with more players at my disposal, we wouldn’t have chanced him on the bench. It’s either him or a 16-year-old or 17-year-old no one has heard of, so his competition wasn’t very great.”
Although Hodgson will be without a host of First Team players on Thursday night, the Manager clearly believes his Team are capable of producing a performance that will merit the Club a berth in the Quarter-Finals of the UEFA Europa League.
“We’ve had a good few days now to recover, train and prepare so I think we’ll be very lively on Thursday night. I think the players will be well prepared and very enthusiastic about the task they face.
“We’ve got to try and win the game but we’ve careful we don’t open ourselves up too much to the counter attack. If you go a further goal down it makes the task much harder so it’s a balancing act.
“If you look at the way we played, and the way they played, it was a pretty much even contest in Turin and that’s what gives us the heart - if we can make it another even contest between the two teams maybe this time the great goal will be on our side and not their side.”
