Ahead of what is widely regarded as their toughest fixture of the season, Marco Silva spoke to the press about everything from the team's schedule to possible transfers.
Looking forward to the challenge
In terms of fixtures, Fulham have had a very difficult week by any club's standards. Despite that, Silva spoke about how he is looking forward to the challenge of visiting the treble holders.
"When you have a week with Arsenal, Tottenham in the middle, and after you go to play against [Manchester] City, and these two Premier League games are both away from home, you know what that represents for us [...] But we want to go and embrace the challenge."
The difficulty of the game itself
Playing away to Man City is always a tough game, even for the best teams in Europe, but, while Silva recognised their quality, he maintained that he is looking forward to embracing the game.
“It will be tough against a team who have been commanding the last few seasons, the best team in the Premier League, and of course it will be a tough one for us.
"The way they started the season, even in tough games, the way they have been winning, even some games where they don't perform at their best level, they have been getting results.
"They are really strong again, they will be really tough for us, but our players, and we as a club, we like this type of challenge and we are going there to embrace it.”
Confidence ahead of the game
Although they are expecting a tough game, Silva insists that his team are confident and have the quality required to get a positive result.
"We are a confident group of players, and we can show that on the pitch [...] We know what we are going to face, everyone has no doubts of their quality.
They have been showing the way they have been competitive from the beginning of the season again. They had some injuries as well, but even so they are a top, top level side. But of course we are confident that we can embrace the challenge."
"The most important thing for us is we have to enjoy this type of game. The only way to enjoy is by working hard because they are going to obligate us to do it, but at the same time we are confident that we can do it, we can embrace it, and we go there with the same approach that we did last season.
In some moments of the game they are going to obligate us to do things that we don't like, they are going to take the ball from ourselves, like they do against all the teams in the world, the same situation."
The future of João Palhinha
When asked about the future of Portuguese midfielder Palhinha, Silva was very clear that all options remain on the table.
"João Palhinha did training with the squad this morning [Thursday] [...] anything can happen in the next 36 hours [until the transfer deadline]."
Rumours have persisted throughout the window that the 28-year-old will be leaving Craven Cottage this summer, with firm interest from numerous clubs. But after Bayern Munich failed to complete a deal before their transfer deadline it looks increasingly likely, at the time of writing, that he will be staying in west London until at least January.
Interest in Harrison Reed
Another player attracting plenty of interest is Harrison Reed. The 28-year-old was reportedly subject to a rejected bid from Wolves, but Silva made clear his desire to keep the midfielder.
"We are trying to renew the contract of Harrison Reed [...] (it) just shows that he is (an) important player for us."
The difficulty of preparing for a game without knowing who will be in his squad
With the future of a number of players unknown, and possible incomings still to happen, Silva was asked about whether the uncertainty has impacted planning for Saturday's game.
“It’s part of our job. Of course, it’s not the first time for me, it will not be the last and these things happen.”
“It’s been a busy week for us in terms of games, that is good […] we knew it was going to be a busy week because we are light, we are light in terms of new additions and new players to come in and probably didn’t expect the kind of offers for our players in the last week of the market."