Fulham boss Marco Silva has been speaking to the media before Sunday's Premier League game against Sunderland at Stadium of Light (kick-off 14:00 GMT).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
- Silva confirmed Tom Cairney and Sasa Lukic have both returned to training this week and they will "have to assess them again" before making a decision on who will be available, but it is "nice to have them back there with their team-mates and looking good". However, the Sunderland game will be too soon for Samuel Chukwueze.
- On the importance of FA Cup win over Stoke after recent Premier League defeats: "It's very important always to win games, but it's not that the mood was down at all. I didn't feel that... Sometimes even if the results are not the best one, doesn't mean that everything is wrong or the mood can be down. I think we did what was our obligation against Stoke, a game that we needed energy, we made 10 changes from one game to the other. The team responded very well. We are very serious in a competition that we want to win."
- When comparing their form over the Christmas period and more recently, asked whether it is sometimes better having busy spells of fixtures, Silva responded: "Depends, really. When the games are coming thick and fast and you are getting good results, the fatigue will not come, the lack of energy will not come. You are never tired if you are getting good results and you are winning. But if you ask some teams that in that period didn't get the right results, for sure they were tired and mentally they were not in their best."
- The Fulham boss believes, however many fans manage to make the trip to the Stadium of Light on Sunday, they are "going to be loud, they are going to support the team", adding: "We want to make them proud and we want to make them have a good game, and if they can have a good journey back with a smile on their face, it's going to be everything for us."
- Silva said him and the club are "aligned" and having conversations about "many, many things", including his contract, so there is no further news on his future at this time.
- On racism in football following the incident in the Champions League this week with alleged racist abuse from Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni towards Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr:" I think we we all have this battle and here is clear, but around Europe, around the world, I think the battle is there for us to win and at the end we are going to win."
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