Claudio Ranieri has been backed by former Fulham full-back John Arne Riise to save the club from relegation, although he believes the Cottagers must beat the likes of upcoming opponents Westham to rescue their season.
Fulham remain rock bottom in the Premier League standings despite the appointment of Ranieri as Slavisa Jokanovic’s replacement in November, with the club having lost twice, won once and drawn once since the Italian arrived.
Jokanovic had been criticised for constantly changing his defence but, while Ranieri has played a more settled back line, the club have still let in nine Premier League goals in their last four matches.
The challenge of steering Fulham back to winning ways gets no easier for Ranieri as a resurgent West Ham team – who have scored nine goals in their last three games – visit Craven Cottage on Saturday.
But Riise, who worked under Ranieri at Roma, is confident the 67-year-old can still save Fulham and thinks a win over London rivals West Ham could kick-start such a turnaround.
“I was lucky to have Ranieri at Roma, for over a year. I love the man,” Riise told Standard Sport.
“I was really happy for him at Leicester and I was really happy when he took over at Fulham now because he’s the right manager for them. He’s a great person – he’s a people person, he likes to talk to you, he likes to help you and he loves a challenge.
“Fulham have conceded a lot of goals this season, they won their first game but are still conceding a lot of goals. The main target now is to keep the team in the Premier League for next season and then build on that.
“He’s got a great future ahead of him, he’s done so much for football but he wants to prove himself once again for Fulham.
“You need to win the games against the teams around you or the derbies because they mean so much for the fans. It can give confidence to the players and belief to the fans.”
Riise, who spent three years at Fulham, added: “I know the Fulham fans have been really disappointed of this season so far, especially when they spent so much money before the season and how they played last season in the Championship.
“I think Fulham fans really want to win that game, and then they can build on that for the rest of the season.”