Davies eyes top 10 after Fulham gain momentum

Simon Davies wants Fulham to push on and achieve a top-10 finish this season. The Cottagers have struggled for consistency over the course of the campaign, thanks in no small part to their attempts to juggle domestic and European exertions.

Their Europa League exit means Fulham's attention is now squarely on the Premier League, where they lie 12th after beating Stoke City at the weekend. Davies hopes that 2-1 win can prove a catalyst for further success over the coming weeks as they face teams in close proximity in the table, with Queen's Park Rangers, Wolves, Aston Villa and Swansea all coming up.

"The manager did point it out to us that going into these games on the back of a win would give us that little bit of extra confidence," the Welsh midfielder said yesterday. "We want to push on and get into the top half of the table with another couple of good results.

"We all obviously know it'll be very hard still because they're all fighting for survival down the bottom, but they're games that we have got to be looking to go and take the initiative in.

"We're obviously above them [QPR, Wolves and Aston Villa] in the table on merit, so we've got to go and impose ourselves in those games."

Fulham sit nine points above the drop zone and are in the midst of a two-week break. The Cottagers' FA Cup exit at Everton means they have a free weekend, and Davies believes the team will benefit from the time off: "It's always good to get a break. Not just for me but for the lads coming off the back of the European games as well; they've had such a tough six months.

"We've trained well this week but we'll have a couple of days off and, hopefully, recharge the batteries and finish the season strongly on the back of it."