CSKA Sofia v Fulham preview

17 September 2009 10:41
// A bit of a hack but it works// The article snippet is wrapped onto a second line, even when #article-sub is emptyif( $("div#article-sub").children().length == 0 ) {$("div#article-sub").remove();} Fulham boss Roy Hodgson will give his fringe players a chance in the club's opening Europa League group game away to CSKA Sofia.[LNB] The Premier League club have left several regulars back in West London for the trip to Bulgaria, with Hodgson insisting he is not neglecting the competition.[LNB]Aston Villa and Tottenham were both knocked out of last season's Uefa Cup after fielding weakened teams, but Hodgson is confident he still has enough quality to achieve a result from their opening match in Group E.[LNB]Midfield duo Danny Murphy and Clint Dempsey are injured, while the likes of Mark Schwarzer, Brede Hangeland and Andy Johnson have been left at home.[LNB]Of the team which started Sunday's 2-1 win over Everton in the Premier League, only goalkeeper David Stockdale and right-back John Pantsil are expected to feature against CSKA.[LNB]Summer signings Jonathan Greening, Bjorn Helge Riise and Stephen Kelly are among the players set to be given a run-out in the game.[LNB]Hodgson also confirmed Simon Davies, Zoltan Gera, Erik Nevland, Diomansy Kamara and Chris Baird will be involved in the fixture.[LNB]Great adventure"We've signed a lot of new players in the summer and they're champing at the bit to show what they can do in the first team," said Hodgson. [LNB]"They've had to wait a long while for their chance because I've been quite conservative with my team selection.[LNB]"We've got a long season with many games ahead of us. That, plus the fact that we're coming off the back of an international week, in which a lot of our players played two matches.[LNB]"I made the decision fairly early on that, with this being the first game following an international week and a very important game against Everton, this was the right moment to let one or two of the lads, who we've not seen too much of, show what they can do. [LNB]"We are very happy to be in this competition, we're looking forward to it, we think it's a great adventure, but we also think it's a great adventure for the squad - not just 11 players." [LNB]CSKA currently top the Bulgarian league and Lubomir Penev's side will certainly provide a stern test for Fulham after knocking out Dinamo Moscow in the previous round.[LNB]In a group which also contains Roma and Basel, Fulham will be determined to get off to a positive start if they are to fulfil any hopes of reaching the knockout phase.[LNB]

Source: SKY_Sports