Their duck was broken on Monday evening as Fulham beat fellow newly promoted side West Bromwich Albion at Craven Cottage, with goals from Bobby Decordova-Reid and Ola Aina granting them their first victory of the Premier League season.
And the Cottagers will be looking to build on that result as they travel across London to face West Ham United this Saturday.
Fulham manager Scott Parker addressed the media before the match — here are his most noteworthy quotes, as per the official Fulham website.
On the opposition
Following a poor start to the campaign, West Ham have improved markedly in recent games, beating Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City comfortably, taking points from Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, and giving champions Liverpool a mighty contest at Anfield in their most recent match.
Therefore, Parker is expecting nothing short of a difficult afternoon at the weekend and is fully aware of the threats posed by David Moyes and his Hammers.
“They’re a very good team, a well organised team,” he said. “They had a slow start but they’ve since got some good results from tough games. With the way they play, they’ve got some very good players who can cause us problems.”
On fond memories as a Hammer
In Parker’s playing days, it was at West Ham where some of the highlights of his career were enjoyed. He was voted player of the season in three out of four years in east London and performed well enough to become regularly involved with the England national team.
Despite building a close affinity with the club and its fans, the former midfielder felt it necessary to move on for the benefit of his own career after relegation in 2011, but the connection remains strong.
“It’s a fantastic football club where I had four unbelievable seasons,” said the 40-year old. “It ended in relegation but that disappointment will not dampen the memories I take from that place. The fanbase is incredible, Upton Park was a special place, so I’ve got many fond memories.”
On identity
It was noticeable that Fulham underwent a stylistic change against West Brom compared to their previous matches: they were more direct, less risk-averse, and more instinctive in their play.
But the basic principles remained the same: defend as a unit, transition together, and attack as one. It’s this that provides the basis for all that Fulham do under Parker, and the manager insists there will be no compromises in that regard, irrespective of the opposition.
“We’ll go into every game this year the way I want us to play, the way the team want to play. We’ll go into every game wanting to try and win it. That’s not always going to be the case, but come Saturday night it’ll be no different.”
On injury updates
Fans will doubtless be hoping Parker will be able to field the same starting 11 that brushed aside West Brom on Monday, but there is the possibility that midfielder Mario Lemina may be unable to feature due to a niggle sustained in that game.
Defenders Kenny Tete and Terence Kongolo remain long-term absentees.
“The only [new] one is Lemina at the moment, who’s touch and go. We took a precaution with him on Monday and we’ll make a call nearer the game. Other than that, it’s the same: Tete, Kongolo, they’re the ones who aren’t available. Everyone else is in a good place.”