Neil Critchley: Blackpool players should enjoy the task of stopping Fulham

Neil Critchley says his Blackpool players must relish the challenge of facing free-scoring league leaders Fulham today.
By Matt Scrafton
Published 29th Jan 2022, 08:00 BST
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The Seasiders take on a Fulham team who have scored 22 goals in their last four games, six short of Pool’s tally for the season.

Marco Silva’s side, who have found the back of the net 73 times this season, boast a five-point gap at the top of the Championship.

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“If you had said 12 months ago ‘You’re going to be going to Fulham away in the Championship and they’re top of the league’, we’d all have been rubbing our hands thinking ‘Yeah, we’ll have a bit of that,’” Critchley said.

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“Saturday afternoon, we fancy a bit of that. Why not? Let’s give it everything we’ve got.

“They’ve only lost four games, will they lose a couple between now and the end of the season? Possibly, yes. Could that be on Saturday? Hopefully.

“We know the size of the task in front of us and things will have to go our way. We might need a bit of luck here and there too.

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“The Championship throws up some funny scorelines at times, so why can’t we go there and get something?”

Blackpool have beaten the Cottagers this season, making them just one of four sides to defeat them in the league.

Critchley’s players are also one of three teams to stop Fulham from scoring, a task that will be incredibly difficult to repeat this afternoon given their recent record.

As for Blackpool, they go into the game in good form, having claimed back-to-back 1-0 home wins against Hull City and Millwall.

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When asked about a potential play-off challenge during the final months of the campaign, Critchley said: “Honestly, it’s just one game at a time for us. We don’t look any further than Fulham.

“We know the task of being in the Championship. Competing and winning games at this level is so, so tough, it’s so difficult.

“The next sort of 10 games will give us a clear idea of what the end of the season is going to look like for us.”

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Related topics:Neil CritchleyBlackpoolFulhamMillwallHull City