Fulham boss Marco Silva on Sheffield United's promotion chances

The Blades have come back into form of late after a slow start to the campaign and head to Craven Cottage off the back of three win on the bounce, with two of those coming since Paul Heckingbottom took over from Slavisa Jokanovic.

And Silva is of the opinion that United’s renewed sense of optimism could see them push right up the table and challenge for promotion again.

“It’s a very difficult game, no doubt,” said Silva. “Not just because they have shown good form in the last few games and they’ve achieved good results, which will definitely have boosted their confidence.

“But one of your [media] colleagues asked me some weeks ago about the contenders to be promoted, contenders to be in the Play-Offs.

“And of course there are other teams at the top of the league, six-seven teams at the top of the league, and I said that in my opinion there will be one or two more around, and one of those teams that has picked up is Sheffield United.

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“I know the quality they have, the individual quality they have, players that know this competition very well, and the Premier League as well. I’ve played against some of them in the Premier League and I know their quality, I don’t have doubts about it.

“And of course, if they are achieving good results, their confidence is in a different level now, and if they are more confident then they are more difficult to beat. It will be a tough game for us, but I am 100 per cent sure that it will be really tough for them as well.”

“We have to make things really difficult for them, they will come here to match us, but playing at Craven Cottage with our fans behind us, we want to keep this unbeaten run, but we want to take three points.”

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