Silva on Lukic's injury, 'tough' Man City and not doing anyone 'favours'
Fulham boss Marco Silva has been speaking to the media before Saturday's home game against Manchester City in the Premier League (12:30 BST kick-off).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
Sasa Lukic will be unavailable because of a "small issue in his calf", but it is not thought to be anything "too serious" and he should be back in contention "soon". There were no further injury concerns to report.
Silva always expects "a different challenge" from City counterpart Pep Guardiola, after facing the Spanish manager 13 times now: "It's always a tough match, a different match. It's not new to say they are going to obligate us to do things we don't like. They do that against any team in the world. We are going to face one of the best teams in the world, no doubt about it."
He anticipates his defence will be busy against City, stating: "We are going to play a team that, in all of their games this season in the Premier League, have had more possession. They have the capacity to frustrate the opposition with their possession and they take some energy from you."
On Arsenal "relying" on Fulham to take points off Manchester City as both fight for the title, Silva said: "We are going to do our job like we have been doing so far this season - and that's it. We have prepared ourselves well for the match and we are going to do the maximum to get points for us, not to do favours for anyone else."
He denied claims his players are "on the beach" after securing their Premier League status: "It's not the case. It's not even something I need to waste my time on with my players. They know the demand every single day and they know the way we work. If they are a little bit relaxed, I'm the first one to put some pressure on them."
Silva said he believes Fulham have made "some steps forward" this season in terms of being "really tough to play against" and "achieving some great results against some of the top sides in the Premier League".
Follow the rest of Friday's Premier League news conferences
