Fulham's Matt Smith will say 'thank you' to Bristol City by knocking them out of EFL Cup

20 September 2016 16:30

Fulham's Matt Smith will be looking to remind Bristol City of his goal threat when his former side visit Craven Cottage in the EFL Cup third round.

Smith spent a successful loan spell at Ashton Gate in 2014-15, scoring 13 times in 20 appearances - including a streak of nine goals in just five games - before returning to Craven Cottage.

The 27-year-old has a soft spot for the Robins as a result, but will be looking to knock them out in Wednesday's all-Sky Bet Championship clash.

"I've got very fond memories of the club, I had a good few months there and was made to feel very welcome," he told Fulham's website.

"When you do well your memories are always fonder but the fans there took to me. I'm excited to see some familiar faces but on the pitch it's back to business and I'm hoping to do all I can for Fulham."

Smith also has previous with current City boss Lee Johnson and expects any side fielded by him to pose a challenge.

"I worked with Lee at Oldham, he's a top, top coach and one of the best up and coming managers in the country," he said.

"With his pedigree he'll have all the players on side and working hard for him."

Johnson has confirmed he will rotate his squad for the match and expects opposite number Slavisa Jokanovic to do the same.

Among those to come in will be England Under-19 defender Taylor Moore, a summer signing from Lens, and Gustav Engvall.

"I think Taylor deserves his chance and we'll look at Gustav's fitness as well. We had him on the bench the other day and we could have probably got 20-30 minutes from him, but he's had more training under his belt now.

"I think both teams will make changes tomorrow, but there will still be two strong teams out there for the game.

"I've got to be careful because I don't want to put 11 players out there who have never played together before; I want to win the game and progress into the fourth round."

Source: PA-WIRE