Fulham Football Club News

• Nickname:Cottagers
• Founded:1879
• Manager:Martin Jol

• Ground:Craven Cottage
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Hodgson: League still priority

04 Dec 2009 - 07:34:45

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Fulham boss Roy Hodgson claims the Premier League remains the priority despite Thursday's 1-0 victory over CSKA Sofia boosting their chances of reaching the last 32 of the Europa League.

Zoltan Gera's 15th minute header settled a tight game at Craven Cottage in which Danny Murphy missed a second-half penalty.

With AS Roma also beating 2-1 Basel in the Italian capital on the night, the Cottagers will qualify from the group if they can beat the Swiss side later this month.

But despite the improvement in their European condition, Hodgson still insists the league remains the club's priority this season.

"The Premier League is the major concern and the Europa League comes second to that," he said.

"I don't think the fans will hold anything against us for our performances in this competition. They know when we go to Basel we will be doing our very best.

"We are still trying to do the best we can, the players will be trying hard to get us through and that was evident against CSKA,
personified by people like Simon Davies, Zoltan Gera and Bobby Zamora.

"We knew it would be tough for Basel to get anything at Roma so, with the four points dropped against Roma, we always thought we would have had to win the last two games."