On October 19th at 22:00, a match between Fulham and Aston Villa will take place in the 8th round of the English Premier League. Fulham boss Marco Silva looked ahead to the match in his pre-match conference and expressed his sincere appreciation for Villa boss Emery.
After the first 7 rounds of EPL, Fulham accumulated 11 points with 3 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses, ranking 8th in the table. In the last round, Fulham lost 2-3 to Manchester City at home, but they had won 3-1 against Newcastle United in the 5th round, showing some strength. This match will be Marco Silva's 150th match in charge of Fulham, and if he leads the team to win, he will get his 70th victory in charge of Fulham.
Silva said in the conference, "For me it's just another game, but it's going to be a good one and the only thing I want is to end the game with three points. Our goal is always the same and that is to continue working with this great group of players and make the fans proud of us."
Speaking about rivals Villa, Silva was full of praise for Emery's coaching ability: "The impact Emery has had on Villa is really incredible. If you look at his CV, you'll see he's done this at other clubs in the past. What he's done in his managerial career really goes without saying, and it's a credit to him that Villa are playing in the Champions League."
Villa are currently fifth in the Premier League and have only lost one game so far to start the new season and have started the Champions League with two consecutive wins to reach the last 16 of the League Cup. Silva said: "We are going to face a very good team who have played a high level season. Villa are fully motivated to get a good result for this game, but they know what they are up against. We are playing well and are strong at home and I am sure it will be a very good game."
Speaking on the injury situation, Silva said that Sasa Lukic will miss the match and could miss more than one or two games. Castagne is also returning with a hamstring problem, and the exact timing of his return is uncertain. In addition, Jorge Cuenca and Carlos Vinicius remain out. But Silva also mentioned the good performances of players like Harry Wilson, Raul Jimenez and Pereira on international days, which is a positive sign for Fulham.
