No FearSteve Sidwell is hoping Tuesday night’s FA Cup with Budweiser triumph provides Fulham with the momentum to earn a result against Arsenal at the weekend.
As well as earning progression to the Fourth Round of the historic competition, the 3-0 win over Norwich City restored confidence to René Meulensteen’s side following the disappointment of the previous defeat by Sunderland.
And while a trip to the home of the Barclays Premier League leaders may appear daunting, Sidwell assured fans that his side will not show the Gunners too much respect, stating: “We won’t go into any game fearing anyone. It doesn’t matter where we are in the league.
“You’ve seen so far this season that everyone’s beating everyone – teams like Arsenal are losing, Manchester United are losing. These teams are losing games so if we can go there, defend well and create chances, then we’re more than capable of scoring.
“It’s a tough game, a very tough game, but they’re all tough games now. We’re going into the match with the confidence that we’ve gained from the Norwich result and hopefully we can put a performance in.”
Asked if he’s been impressed by their staying power at the summit of the Premier League, the former Gunners academy player admitted: “Very. People still aren’t really talking about them [as title contenders], they’re talking about Chelsea and Manchester City, which Arsenal will probably like as it takes the pressure away from them. But they keep grinding out results, they’re keeping in there and it’s going to go to the wire.”
While the race for the title is as open as it’s been for years, it’s just as tense at the other end of the table, with Fulham one of around 11 sides keen to put daylight between themselves and the drop zone.
The Whites had occupied one of the three relegation places for a number of unwelcome periods this season, but currently sit outside of the bottom three having won three league matches since Meulensteen took charge.
“I think if you look at the Premier League in general, it’s never been as tight as this – at the top or the bottom,” Sidwell said. “If you look at the bottom half of the table there’s six points from 20th to 10th, so it goes to show it’s not just on our form, it’s how the whole Premier League has gone.
“I think since René has come in he’s brought a new lease of life to the players and I think we’ve been hard done by with some of the results, especially when we’ve got back into games.
“If you look at Man City, Everton – we’ve got back on level terms and then we’ve thrown games away. A lot of them have been down to mistakes by ourselves so if we can erase those errors and concentrate on keeping clean sheets then we feel as though we’ve got enough up top and people that can score goals to win us games.”
Away from league matters, the Whites continue to fight on in the FA Cup and Tuesday’s win has set up a Fourth Round tie at Sky Bet League One strugglers Sheffield United.
It’s a competition in which Sidwell is keen to enjoy a prosperous run after he notched another goal in the win over the Canaries – his sixth overall for the season and his third in as many games.
“It’s a little purple patch so it’s good for me personally but obviously it’s the old cliché that the result is the more important thing,” he admitted. “It was very important for us [to beat Norwich], I think you could tell that by the team selection.
“For me, personally, the FA Cup is traditional with the very British, English mentality that I’ve got. It’s special for me and we’ve got Sheffield United now in the next round and hopefully we can put the same performance in and progress.”
http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2014/january/16/no-fear?