Fulham boss Marco Silva sits in exclusively Sky Sports to discuss how his side will deal with Arsenal’s set pieces, Alex Iwobi’s “incredible form” and Emile Smith Rowe’s “emotional” first meeting with his former team.

With Fulham only three points behind the European places, have you been surprised by your start?

“That didn’t surprise me. I’m not saying I expected to be there at the start of the season, but the way we played can’t come as a surprise to me, our players and anyone who follows the Premier League very closely. “.

“I have to be fair to our players, we can’t be surprised because we played really, really well in terms of performance. In most games we were one of the best teams on the pitch and deserved the points we got.” In some moments even more.

“Probably at the beginning of the season, after losing so many players and again so many changes in our football club in terms of the squad, it was more difficult to expect such a fast and strong start from us, but the reality is that we have signed some players who have settled in really well and they have helped the others who were here to start the season well, like we did.”

What do you think of your Sunday opponents Arsenal?

“It’s a really difficult top team. Title contender, in my opinion. They have been there for the last two seasons. Great job by Mikel (Arteta). A team with a great collective idea, also great individual quality, and they really are.” also a solid team.

“They are physical from (Martin) Odegaard to the top of the pitch. It’s not easy for them to give their opponents many chances throughout the game, but we will be ready. It’s not the best. “We only need a week to prepare for the game because we barely have time to prepare for the game.

“In terms of freshness they will probably be in a better position than us. They played on Wednesday (Arsenal beat Man Utd 2-0 at home). We played on Thursday (Fulham beat Brighton 3-1 at home). The difference is 24 hours, but it’s a big difference when you have so little time. But it’s no excuse for us. We have to go into the game with the goal of being able to fight for the three points, like we did twice against them last year.”

How will you approach Arsenal’s set pieces?

“We have our way of defending set pieces. We know what we’re talking about. As a team like Arsenal, they were so, so strong. Of course, everyone noticed that she also decided a lot of games at that moment.” We know what’s coming, not only the trust of the Arsenal team and their fans in terms of the offensive standards, because it’s really important, the will and the desire to trust that we are displaying in this moment. They are also great takers.

“But also to give credit to our players, last season we played against Arsenal twice. To repeat the same thing, we have to be focused, trust ourselves and be strong in this moment.

How happy are you with Alex Iwobi’s form this season?

“What an incredible season it has been for him. To be honest, it doesn’t surprise me. We had the same feeling as a team, Alex certainly had the same feeling and so did his teammates. The way he started the season, the preparation.” In the first Premier League games you start to think: “Okay, he’ll be even better than the season before.” We’ll be Alex with everything With the talent that’s inside of him, with the potential that’s inside of him, he’s going to put it all out there this season.

“Firstly, he is a really important player for me because he is very versatile. He can play in many different positions. I can move it in a football game without making many changes. He was a good example last night (against Brighton) where he played. “He’s adding something to his game and improving in attack in terms of assists and goals. He’s really contributing well to his game and we’re happy about that.”

What do you think of Emile Smith Rowe’s start to life at Fulham?

“He is a really important player for us. We are delighted to have the chance to sign him. We knew what we were signing – a talented player who hasn’t played football for the last two seasons. We know he will do it.” In some moments the consistency has decreased a little, but he has to play more and more and train more and more.

“For him it is important not to stop, to train every day and to be able to maintain the intensity and energy that the Premier League demands from you and even more in this position. And he has to be able to respond to that.” And I’m really happy to have him with us.

“I think he delivers what we wanted from him. And I will see more consistency in the future. Yes, it will be my goal to push him forward and it will be his goal to deliver more consistent performances throughout the entire 90 minutes of the game.”

Do you think there will be extra motivation for Smith Rowe and Iwobi on Sunday when they face their former club?

“I really don’t know. I’ve been with Alex at Everton for a long time and now it’s my second season with me at Fulham. This will be the first time for Emile to face his former club.”

“It will probably be an emotional game for Emile. I’m not talking about extra motivation or not, but emotionally it will definitely be for Emile, and that’s it. He’s going to play against a club he loves.” Sure, but now he’s also in love with Fulham and will fight and do his best to make sure we win the game.

Are you looking to strengthen in the upcoming January transfer window?

“We have to be very careful about talking about it, firstly because this group of players deserves all the credit and deserves to be talked about, and probably not the new players coming in.”

“That’s the first thing in terms of the sense of togetherness, the friendship and the quality of commitment from them: they were incredible.”

“Secondly it’s about the quality of the players because in order for us to sign someone they have to add extra quality because just to have a new face – I would rather not have done it if they didn’t add something more to our club. “Additional quality costs money and let’s see if you have the budget for it.”