Collins John warn United
With Fulham up against Manchester United on Saturday, Holland striker Collins John sat down at Motspur Park this week and looked forward with some anticipation to his first visit to the Theatre of Dreams.
"It's somewhere I haven't been before," he said. "And it's something I'm looking forward to very much. But having said that, all that matters is the result; our last few games haven't been that good, so it's important that we go up there and give a good account of ourselves.
"We know it will be tough, but playing against Manchester United is always good, they're a massive club, and hopefully we will come away with a good result."
The prospect of running out in front of sixty-odd thousand people holds no fear for the Liberian-born hitman - nerves just aren't a problem for the nineteen-year-old apparently.
"As soon as you start warming up you forget about the crowd and what's happening around you and just focus on the game," John said. "Even if you're on the bench it's the same - it's just another game at another stadium, everything goes out of your head except the game.
"We'll have a look around the ground before the match and enjoy that, but when the game comes, you don't see the fans or the stadium any more."
United were of course knocked out of the Champions League last week - in theory that should leave them even more determined to do well in the Premiership.
"You never know what the reaction will be," said John. "Our manager tells us we have to be hungry in every game; even if you can't always play good football you can still be forceful and try to win. We will need to do both on Saturday, but we know it's something we can do.
"A club like United will always expect to win every home game, so it will be tough. They're near the top of the table and playing well, but we won there last season and therefore everything is possible.
"History tells us that we can win there, and the manger tells us that we can do it, so we're going to go there and do all we can to get another good result.
"Of course we drew against them earlier this season, and we played very well against them in the second half. It was a very tight game without much space, but I thought we thoroughly deserved the draw.
"It will be tough, but once the referee blows his whistle it's just two teams out there, and we'll see."
A key player for United is Ruud van Nistelrooy, now firmly back in the team after having missed a large part of the season through injury. John expressed his admiration for his fellow Dutch striker.
"I don't think he's fully fit yet," John said. "But for me he's still one of the top strikers in the Premiership. He's just a pure goalscorer - that's his job. His finishing is unbelievable - sometimes you're just amazed that he can get the ball in from some of the positions he's in,
"Obviously United have got players like Giggs, Ronaldo, Rooney, who are all fantastic - but for me van Nistelrooy is still number one.
"But when we go there, we don't think about those names. We're not kids, we're professional footballers, and we know what we have to do. They're all good players, but we're going to go there and try to stop them, it's as simple as that."
John was also optimistic that, in contrast to United's fortnight, having had a two-week break without a competitive game will work in Fulham's favour.
"It's been good for us," he said. "The way it works in England where you play so many games over the Christmas period is very difficult, and we've had a run of matches where we've played in the week as well as at weekends, and that can be tough over a period of time.
"But we'll be refreshed now, and I would say that everybody can't wait for Saturday. We need to get some of our recent games out of our system now. We don't care if it's Manchester United or whoever - we just want to go there, play well and win."