Van der Sar: We have a long way to go

14 April 2012

Edwin van der Sar is warning his Fulham team-mates not to get carried away with their good start to the season.

Many critics made Chris Coleman's side favourites for relegation before the campaign began but since then they have climbed to seventh in the Premiership after losing only once in six games.

Fulham's turnaround means they will be expected to beat Leicester at Loftus Road tomorrow and goalkeeper Van der Sar said: "We are a decent team and I don't think anybody should be surprised by what we have done so far. We have made quite a good start but we must not forget that last season we did something similar and then we had a long slump.

"Things are okay but I am not getting carried away. It is great to be up in the top half of the table and it is better to have the points already but there is still a long way to go. We have let in a few too many goals but the main thing is we are scoring a lot.

We have had a couple of clean sheets away and now we are looking for a few of them at home and then to build on that."

Fulham's fortunes in the Premiership over the last two seasons have suffered because they have not scored enough goals.

This season they are converting a much higher ratio of opportunities in a new counter-attacking formation. Striker Louis Saha is not too keen on the system because it leaves him on his own when Fulham are pinned back but he has scored four league goals in six games.

Winger Luis Boa Morte has three and Barry Hayles, who will be competing with Saha for a place tomorrow after recovering from an ankle injury, has also scored three times. Hayles said: "The new formation is working wonders and seems to be catching teams off guard. With one natural striker playing alone up front it's easy to assume that we're a defensive team, but we're anything but."

Midfielder Sean Davis (knee) will be unavailable tomorrow but should return to full training and play for the reserves next week.

Meanwhile, French defender Jean-Louis Montero may also join the squad if he impresses on trial in the next week.

The 31-year-old is a free agent and would compete for the right-back position with Moritz Volz, who is on loan from Arsenal and could be recalled at 24 hours' notice.

Leicester have fitness doubts over Les Ferdinand (knee), Keith Gillespie (ankle), Matt Elliott (foot) and Craig Hignett (hamstring), but goalkeeper Ian Walker (back) should play.

Fulham v Leicester, Loftus Road, tomorrow, 3pm

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