Saša Lukić was bossing the Fulham midfield this season until an injury picked up on international duty curtailed his progress. Now back in the side, we grabbed five minutes with him ahead of Sunday’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur…
Saša, result-aside, how good was it to be back playing for Fulham after seven weeks out?
Being out for around a month and a half, it was good to come back in last weekend to try to help the team. For me personally, I was happy because the last few weeks were tough for me, and I worked a lot to try to get back as soon as I could.
I’m grateful to everyone who assisted me during my rehabilitation, the medical team and all the staff. I was happy to be back but, of course, the match didn’t go well for us and I was unhappy with the result. We played a very good first half, we scored a great goal, and we could have scored a second and a third, but in the end we conceded and the game changed. So, I was disappointed with the result.
You played the full 90 minutes and looked fit – how did you find it?
Physically I felt really good, as I did a lot of good work with Bruno [Mendes] on my fitness, and then in the last fortnight I worked hard with the squad and Marco, so when I was called up into the squad again I was ready.
When you got the injury it must have been so frustrating, as your form had been very good this season?
Yes, it was frustrating as I felt at the time I was going through the best spell in my career so far. I was in a very good moment and then got injured. This is part of football and life, and at the beginning I was feeling down, but I said to myself that this happened for a reason, and I put my mind immediately to focus on working hard to come back stronger. Now, I want to continue in this way.
Sander Berge came into that number six role when you were injured – what did you make of his performances?
He’s a great player and a great person, and he adapted very well. All players like Sander are important and I’m sure he’ll carry on helping the team.
Tottenham Hotspur had a fantastic win against Manchester City in their last match – what can we expect from them on Sunday?
They are in a good moment, having beaten City 4-0. We know their style of play very well, last season we played against them and beat them 3-0 at home. They have the same players and we need to prepare for the game as best as we can. If we focus on ourselves and what we are capable of, we can achieve another good result.
You must have good memories of that 3-0 win, having scored your first Fulham goal in that game?
It was a beautiful memory, and I hope that on Sunday we can win and do everything we can to take three points, and why not try to score again!
