Leno: Still in a very good position

Bernd Leno rued the slow start that ended up costing Fulham away to Bournemouth on Monday night.

The Whites ended the evening with more than twice as many shots on target as our hosts, but we were unable to find an equaliser to Antoine Semenyo’s strike inside the first minute.

“I think it’s our fault that we lost today,” Leno said. “The first 20, 25 minutes we were not on point. I think it was not our level, and we were lucky that it was just 1-0.

“At the end we tried everything, I think the second half was much, much better, but I think Bournemouth defended really well, and in the end there was nothing for us today.

“We knew that they would come with a lot of energy, very physical side, very good side, and we missed all of that in the first 20, 25 minutes, and they punished us for that.

“We had a lot of chances, a couple of headers, dangerous crosses, but in the end the last percentage was missing.

“Maybe like the speed of the ball, a lot of balls straight at the ‘keeper, but as I said, Bournemouth defended really well, really deep in the second half so it was really hard to score a goal, or even create good chances.”

The defeat means Fulham’s form in our last eight Premier League fixtures reads WLWLWLWL, but our number one remains confident of securing a European berth, if we can string some Ws together.

“I think it’s been a wonderful season,” he said. “We’re still in a very good position, still in a very good moment. Even with the defeat today, it’s still a very good season.

“We have six games to go and we are still in touch to go to Europe, so I think that says everything. All our games are very tight, and if we can get more consistency and have a winning streak, win a couple of games in a row, I think we go for sure to Europe.

“But that’s the Premier League, it's all about details, margins, and hopefully we can win a couple more games in the last six.”

The next opportunity to get back on track is a tantalising one, as we have the chance to secure a first ever league double over Chelsea this Sunday.

“We had a fantastic game on Boxing Day against Chelsea,” Leno recalled. “We won last minute at Stamford Bridge.

“We have a couple more days to prepare. Chelsea play on Thursday in the Conference League so they will lose a little bit of energy, but we expect a top side.

“I think Chelsea is a top, top team, and we need a perfect game to beat them at home.”