Fulham can launch European push after blowing away Tottenham, insists Sasa Lukic
Sasa Lukic believes Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Tottenham shows Fulham can qualify for Europe this season.
Spurs are chasing a Champions League place but were well beaten by their 12th-place London rivals in a one-sided affair at Craven Cottage, with Lukic scoring his first goal for the hosts.
There could be as many as eight English clubs in European football next season. Now six points off seventh-place West Ham and with three wins from their last four games, Fulham have an outside chance of being one of them.
When asked whether it was a realistic aim to qualify for Europe, Lukic told Standard Sport: “Yes, of course. We believe we can qualify for Europe. We have a good squad, good depth in the squad.
“We take it game by game and hopefully we can do better than last season. I believe we can. There is depth in the squad.
“There are no easy games in the Premier League, whether we play top teams like Tottenham or Manchester United or smaller teams. It doesn’t make any difference, you always have to give your best.”
Lukic’s first Fulham goal swept in off his knee either side of a Rodrigo Muniz double, and the Serbia midfielder is earning manager Marco Silva’s trust after joining last January from Torino in Serie A.
“I am so happy to score my first goal for Fulham”, he said. “It was my knee, it was strange, but it’s important to score a goal. I hope to score so many goals for Fulham.
“This was my fourth game in a row. Prior to that, I didn’t play much. It was hard, it wasn’t an easy time.
“I worked a lot on myself. But it proved with a performance like this and the ones against Manchester United and Brighton: yeah, my work has been paying off.”
Muniz has scored more goals than any other Premier League player since the beginning of February — hitting seven in his last seven to become Fulham’s starting striker.
“No, I’m not surprised at all”, Lukic said of the 22-year-old’s rapid rise.
“I see him every day in training, I see how he works, I see how he behaves. He only has to keep it going.”