‘Best player on the pitch’ - Fulham boss Marco Silva hails individual after win over Sunderland

Fulham beat Sunderland 3-2 at the Stadium of Light to progress into the next round of the FA Cup. A home clash against fellow Premier League side Leeds United at Craven Cottage awaits them at the end of the month.

Marco Silva made a few changes to his side last night night to freshen up his ranks. Harry Wilson, Andreas Pereira and Layvin Kurzawa were all on the scoresheet for the Cottagers as they did enough to beat Tony Mowbray’s side in the end.

One player who stood out in the game for Fulham was midfielder Tom Cairney. He hasn’t been a regular starter in the league this term due to the form of both Joao Palhinha and Harrison Reed. However, he proved his quality against Championship opposition yesterday.

Silva was impressed and told the club website afterwards: “Tom Cairney was clearly the best player on the pitch. By far. A great, great performance from him. Another one. A great performance from him.”

The boss was pleased to have won the match and also said: “They (Sunderland) obligated us to play 180 minutes in this round. They made it difficult for us. And of course, congratulations to our players and our fans, because we are going to play in the Fifth Round, which was our clear goal from the first time we played against them at the Cottage.

“I think from the first minute we were the better team on the pitch. We played one or two touches every time, some moments we played a little bit slower than we would like, but from the first minute we created dangerous moments around their box.”

Fulham are back in league action this weekend against Nottingham Forest at home. They are unbeaten in their last three outings in all competitions going into that one and are sat in 8th place in the table.