João: Home Games Are Special

João Palhinha sees Saturday’s clash with AFC Bournemouth as a chance to move on quickly.

Fulham were beaten 3-1 by West Ham United on a controversial afternoon in East London last time out, but the Portugal international is now only concentrating on the Cherries next up on home turf.

“We’re just thinking about the next one,” Palhinha insisted. “We need to continue to improve.

“Of course, we don’t feel very happy with the [West Ham] result because at the end of the match we felt like it was possible to win. We have value, we have quality to get a better result.

“We need to keep improving to assimilate the ideas of our coach. I think this game comes in a good moment for us.

“We are disappointed because of the result but we are looking now for the next game – a final. Every game is a final for us, so we want all the support in our home against Bournemouth. This is the most important thing right now.

“All the games at our home are special. I prefer to play in our home, in our stadium, Craven Cottage.

“We’ve started well. We need to keep the good work. I feel it would be better if we had more victories, of course, because we had some games where I feel that we could have got better results – against West Ham, Tottenham.

“Of course, all the games are very hard, but the value is here, the attitude is here. We have a good team, we want to do good things this season, and we need to improve week by week and give our maximum.”

Palhinha could hardly have started life at Fulham better, with his dominant displays in midfield making him an instant fan favourite.

His 35 successful tackles is a league high, and the 27-year-old is hoping to still be near the top of the charts come May.

“It's my objective, it’s one of my characteristics in my game,” he said. “I want to do more. If I had a game where I saw I didn’t do so many tackles I wouldn’t feel very happy with myself.

“One of my objectives this season is to be in the top three, [but] if I’m the man with the most tackles in the Premier League I will be happy.

“It’s part of my game where I know I’m strong, but I want to improve other things in my game, to continue my job.

“In the midfield I have good partners in my team who help me a lot. It’s not just me, my teammates help me a lot.

“I try to help give the same help, so it’s all about the collective game, to give all that we have.”