Martin Jol has warned Fulham to expect a battle when Wolves visit Craven Cottage on Sunday. The west Londoners head into the match on the back of their first successive Barclays Premier League victories of the season, which have propelled them away from the relegation places. Wolves are 11 points worse off and are dangerously close to the drop zone, although they will have been boosted by an impressive result at Newcastle. Terry Connor's side staged an unlikely comeback at St James' Park, clawing back a two-goal deficit to secure a point - something that did not surprise Fulham boss Jol.
"They had the same before," he said. "I saw them against Swansea where they were 2-0 down and still got a result. "They have a good spirit and I think it a good team, a good squad - you saw against Newcastle away from home. "Normally if Newcastle are 2-0 up, I don't think they will throw that away but they got a 2-2. "We are wary of that and they can be a strong team, but we will play at home. "If we play to our strengths and score goals at the right moments, I hope we will can use our home advantage. "We played them early in the season and they looked quite good. "They had a very good start for three or four matches, but the Premier League is the Premier League. "You need to win your games, you depend on your main players and I feel they have been a bit unfortunate. "You will get that at any club, though, as we had Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora together maybe five or six times this season. You need a bit of luck and a settled team." Fulham come into the match after a morale-boosting 1-0 victory at west London neighbours QPR.
January addition Pavel Pogrebnyak netted his second in as many games for the Whites and Jol admits the Russian has had a big impact at the club. "That is the main thing, you always need players that can make the difference," the Dutchman said. "If a striker is doing that for you then you can win games. "We relied a bit on Clint Dempsey scoring important goals for us but it is always good that a new player that comes in and scores two goals because I feel there are goals in us. "At first he came in and made a very good impression on the players. He gave us a boost and looked very good. "After the first game we said 'one swallow doesn't make a summer' and then we said the same after the second game. "Hopefully he will get on with it and do the same as what he did before: score goals for us." Pogrebnyak is likely to start for Fulham once more tomorrow, with right-back Stephen Kelly the only fresh injury concern.
Meanwhile, Karl Henry has revealed a meeting between the Wolves players only hours after Mick McCarthy's sacking has united the squad for the battle for Barclays Premier League survival. Midfielder Henry stressed the need for no splits in the Wolves camp if they are to guarantee a fourth season of top-flight football. Former captain Henry said: "The players have been here a long time and appreciate everything Mick has done but we have got a job to do.
"We are professionals and the day Mick was sacked we got together and said, whoever comes in, we have got to embrace the way he does things and his philosophy. "If we have a split camp, it would not do any favours to us and we have got to get one with it. We need to stay in this league for ourselves and the club - and the fans will benefit." Henry has pulled no punches about the way Wolves have under-achieved this season and admits they are to blame for McCarthy's dismissal.
He said: "It has been a difficult last few weeks and all the lads are gutted that Mick has gone. He is a good manager and has done a lot here. "Ultimately players get the manager the sack. We know we should not be where we are. There is enough quality for us to be a mid-table side and we have not produced. "But we are not panicking. We have been in deeper holes than this before and got out of them. "We are disappointed that we are here again but we are not adrift, we are not 10 points from safety. "People might want to write us off but it is a load of rubbish and we got a good point at Newcastle. "Mick said we might need 38 points and it is completely achievable. Maybe five or six wins. We have got to get on with the job and the lads are fully embracing what TC wants to do."
Fulham V Wolverhampton - view commentary, squad, and statictics of the game live.
Source: PA
