Fulham manager Marco Silva has lashed out at the Premier League before their trip to Newcastle United on Sunday (2 pm kick-off).
Fulham goes into the game on the back of an impressive 2-1 win over West London rivals Chelsea on Thursday night at Craven Cottage. A fourth straight league win took The Cottagers up to sixth in the Premier League table, four points behind third-placed Newcastle, who have a game in hand.
“I speak for ourselves, not [a Champions League battle] at all,” Silva said during his pre-match press conference. “We’re in a great position in the table but we are not yet going to change anything from our goals until we achieve that.
“The Premier League is challenging and a good illustration is the next game we will play against a top, top side. Excellent effort from Eddie and their players – it will be difficult for us because we don’t have much time to prepare for the game.”
The Fulham players will practice on Friday before traveling to Newcastle for the Sunday afternoon fixture on Saturday. With only two days between Premier League matches, Silva continued to express his displeasure with the scheduling of the Chelsea encounter on Thursday.
The derby match was originally scheduled for September, but it was postponed due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
“It isn’t fair for us to start that game at 2 pm on Sunday, not because [how] the game will be, more because the way the way they scheduled the game against Chelsea for Thursday night,” Silva added.
“It’s difficult to understand after a so busy period after the World Cup. That wasn’t scheduled, they decide to put our game against Chelsea on a Thursday night, two days before the Newcastle match.
“It will be difficult, we finished a game at 10 pm last [Thursday] night then we’re going to start the game at 2 pm [Sunday]. It is not taking care of the players, I know that the Premier League is tough for everyone but it’s really dangerous for the players that they are going to start the game again at 2 pm.
“It is not fair for us to have such a different time from Newcastle to prepare for this game. It’s not about Newcastle, it’s more about the game that was scheduled against Chelsea.”
The Fulham boss added: “Yes [they have an unfair advantage] but it’s not their fault at all.
“Our game against Newcastle is there from the beginning of the season, it’s more about why the game against Chelsea was scheduled [Thursday] night, in my opinion, that is not fair.”
Fulham is set to welcome top-scorer and former Newcastle striker Aleksandar Mitrovic back from suspension this weekend as Silva’s side looks to secure a fifth straight league win. Meanwhile, Newcastle is looking to extend their unbeaten run in the top flight to 14 matches.
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