Brede Hangeland and Maarten Stekelenburg made their return in a 3-0 victory.
Fulham boss Rene Meulensteen was delighted to have been able to welcome back Brede Hangeland and Maarten Stekelenburg for the club’s 3-0 FA Cup victory over Norwich.
The duo returned to the Cottagers starting line-up for the third round replay against Norwich, both playing a key role in the Premier League strugglers securing a morale-boosting victory to secure their place in the fourth round.
While goals from Darren Bent, Ashkan Dejagah and Steve Sidwell helped book Fulham’s fourth round tie against Sheffield United, with Hangeland and Stekelenburg ensuring the team recorded a rare clean sheet on their return to the team.
With Fulham still in the Premier League relegation zone, Meulensteen feels the return of two key players will lift his squad and provide a timely boost to the whole club ahead of a crucial run of games until the end of the season.
“Having Brede back was a great boost. He’s done very well after his surgery and trained very hard to get back. And we were very pleased to see Maarten back. It was a very unfortunate injury. It didn’t look too bad at the time but we’re glad to see him back; he was excellent,” admitted the Fulham head coach.
This season’s relegation battle looks set to go right down to the wire, with as many as 10 Premier League clubs tipped to be involved in this year’s relegation dog-fight at the bottom of the table. With 10th placed Hull just five points ahead of Cardiff City in 18th, Fulham will be one of a number of clubs looking to ensure they can put together a run of results and start climbing away from the bottom three.
Photo courtesy of nicksarebi, with thanks.
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