Leeds trip gives us a chance to show our quality, says Fulham boss Marco Silva

Fulham boss Marco Silva says his players will relish their next Premier League challenge against Leeds on Sunday at a partisan Elland Road.

Silva’s side climbed up to ninth place in the table after Thursday’s 3-0 home win against Aston Villa, who sacked manager Steven Gerrard shortly after.

Leeds boss Jesse Marsch is under mounting pressure after his side’s winless run was extended to seven games with defeat at Leicester on the same night.

But Silva is wary of a Leeds backlash and cites their fervent home support as a key factor.

“After analysing our opponent, we know what type of team we will play against,” the Portuguese said.

“Even if they didn’t take the best results (from) the last few games, all of us know what it means to play at Elland Road, what type of atmosphere will be there.

“Everyone that loves football loves that type of environment. It’s another good opportunity for us to show our quality, our personality as a team, to deal well with that type of environment.”

The Cottagers notched their fourth league win of the season against Villa and sit six points above Leeds, who stayed out of the bottom three on goal difference, albeit with a game in hand.

Leeds slipped to a third straight defeat at Leicester but Silva insists their poor current form does not give his side an extra boost.

He said: “Not really. Our motivation comes from ourselves, from our desire to be playing at the level we are playing, to keep improving, to learn from some mistakes. This is our own motivation.

“I’m sure they want to react and we want to keep reacting as a team as well, for different circumstances.

“It’s up to us to prepare our players well, to recover well, because it’s a really short space between both games. We have to assess them, how they are, and prepare in the best way we can.”

Silva is hoping Aleksandar Mitrovic will be fit to resume after he was withdrawn late on against Villa to safeguard against aggravating an ongoing foot problem.

Injured trio Kenny Tete, Layvin Kurzawa and Manor Solomon are expected to remain unavailable.