Greening not expecting a scrap

Cottagers ace keen to avoid relegation dogfight

By Chris Burton   Last updated: 4th February 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Greening not expecting a scrap

Greening: In confident mood

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Jonathan Greening is confident Fulham can avoid being dragged into the Premier League basement battle.

The Cottagers had been hoping to emulate their achievements from last season in 2009/10, with European qualification regarded as a realistic target.

They have, however, been plagued by injuries, with Roy Hodgson unable to boast the biggest squad in the top flight.

Those problems have hindered their cause somewhat, with a five-match losing sequence seeing them slip into the bottom half of the table.

A welcome success over Portsmouth on Wednesday night appears to have blown away a few cobwebs, though, and Greening is convinced the Cottagers can now pull clear of trouble over the second half of the campaign.

Team spirit

"You start worrying when you lose two games on the spin. When you lose five games in a row, of course it knocks your confidence," the experienced midfielder, who scored the only goal of the game against Pompey, told the Evening Standard.

"We're missing some big players to injuries and we're down to the bare bones with a lot of us playing out of position.

"But if you asked the gaffer, he'd say he's got an honest bunch of boys and we'll always give it our all.

"The games are coming thick and fast but I'd like to think we've got a big enough squad with enough quality and team spirit to cope with it."