MARTIN O’Neill plans to enjoy his day in London tomorrow – but will only be happy if he leaves the capital with all three points in the bag.
The Sunderland manager has confessed he loves going to Fulham’s Craven Cottage because of its history and tradition.
“It’s a great ground,” he said. “Very picturesque.
“I enjoyed going there as a player, I enjoyed going there as a manager and I’m looking forward to being there tomorrow.
“It’s an attractive fixture for us, but we’re about the serious business of trying to win a football match we need to win to get into the top half of the table.
“We want to go there and give them a good game.
“But most of all, we want to be as competitive as we can possibly be and get the three points.
“It would be nice for us to win a game again because we’ve gone close several times now without getting over the finishing line.
“And with games running out, we want this to be a good weekend for ourselves and our fans and most of all, we want to come back with the victory.”
O’Neill appreciates that will not be an easy task, especially with Fulham producing such a strong finish to the season and having such formidable home form.
Should Fulham beat Sunderland this weekend in their last game at Craven Cottage this season, they will have won 10 out of their 19 league games on home soil.
“Their form at home has been fantastic this season as it has been for several years and that will be the order of the day tomorrow I’m sure,” said O’Neill.
“They seem to just raise their game a couple of gears when they are at Craven Cottage.
“No one is disputing Fulham are capable of beating us, but we want to go into the final game against Manchester United next weekend on a bit of a high – and that means winning this weekend.
“We want to finish the season well, look forward to a bit of a break and then come back with renewed determination.
“And in order for us to be in a positive frame of mind, we need to pick up as many points as possible from these remaining two games.
“We want to finish the season positively and that’s what will be uppermost in our minds against Fulham this weekend.”
Comments