Source: PA
Hodgson - Weakened Cottagers face tricky time
Roy Hodgson admits his Fulham squad will be tested to the limit in the next few weeks.
After ending a run of five successive defeats with victory over Portsmouth in midweek, the Cottagers claimed a battling point at Bolton despite travelling with a depleted squad.
Zoltan Gera and Simon Davies failed to prove their fitness and, just days after striker Andrew Johnson was ruled out for the season, top scorer Bobby Zamora succumbed to illness.
That left the unheralded pairing of Erik Nevland and David Elm up front and the Cottagers did lack a cutting edge. With Kagisho Dikgacoi also limping off injured in the second half, Hodgson has little time to patch up his side before Tuesday's clash against Burnley.
"It is a difficult time and it is going to remain a difficult time," he said. "What we are going to be doing is trying to work hard and shore up things as best we can in the hope that come March or April some of these players will be returning and we might look stronger.
"We are facing nine games in four-and-a-half weeks. I know Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have done this many times and their managers will be smiling at my reticence to play so many games. But quite frankly we don't really have the squad of those teams and it pushes us more to the limit than them."
