Fulham have been warned they will sink or swim when their quest for automatic promotion to the Premier League continues at Millwall.
The Cottagers are competing with Cardiff for second place in the Sky Bet Championship and will overtake their chief rivals in the table if they prevail in Friday night’s London derby, albeit having played two more games.
But their success in the second half of the season has been mirrored by play-off hopefuls Millwall, whose boss Neil Harris believes the venue for the showdown between the league’s two form teams is critical.
“The Den can be a hostile environment and an intimidating place to play,” Harris, whose side have gone 17 Championship games unbeaten, told the Evening Standard.
“Not for my players. My players are going to thrive off it and enjoy it. It is down to the opposition to deal with it in the best way they can.
“We have seen a lot of teams struggle over the years. I hope it gives us that added edge to be able to impose ourselves on the game.
“I know when The Den is full and it is rocking we are a very difficult club to stop. Players sink or swim and my players will be swimming. They will be flying.
“It is your home environment and you want it to make your players produce their best. It has certainly done that in the past few years.
“We have got the best performances out of the players when The Den has been alight.”
Millwall are definitely missing Byron Webster due to a knee problem, but midfielder Ben Thompson could recover from his ankle issue in time.
Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic, who has Floyd Ayite and Sheyi Ojo unavailable, insists there can be no faltering in their pursuit of automatic entry into the top flight.
“In front of us is the opportunity to catch a bigger target (automatic promotion),” Jokanovic told the club’s website.
“It’s not under our control. If we don’t do this, we are going to have two (play-off) games, and I expect three games.
“It’s another opportunity to fight for the points. We believe we are going to be competitive, with the desire to win the game.
“If we win, we have the option to be successful at the end of the season. The situation is under Cardiff’s control at the moment, we’re going to try and do our job and wait for some kind of mistake from Cardiff’s side.
“We are professionals. If you don’t show ambition and desire to do our job, then you’re in the wrong job.”