Opinion: Fulham must win next four games before five six-pointers

It's a huge couple of months for Fulham and their aspirations for play-off football.

The next four games, on paper at least, look very winnable, especially for a team that has won eight of their last 11 games in the league and one that is hoping to start mounting a serious play-off charge.

Burton, Barnsley, Nottingham Forest and Bolton.

From the reverse fixtures, Fulham took seven points, losing to Burton, beating Barnsley and Forest and drawing with Bolton, but if Slavisa Jokanovic's side want to seriously be in the play-off race come the end of March, those seven points need to be in at least double figures.

Forest are the highest placed side out of them at 15th, and Fulham put in one of their best performances of the season with a 3-1 victory at the City Ground back in September, and despite new management with Aitor Karanka, the Cottagers should be able to beat them all.

But, the position of those teams isn't what makes getting 10+ points the minimum.

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It's the five monumental battles Fulham face after that.

Once they take on Bolton, they face Aston Villa (4th), Bristol City (5th), Wolves (1st), Derby (2nd) and Sheffield United (6th).

You couldn't write it, and those five fixtures are the making of where the side will finish this season, and having a solid base to go into those games is vital.

10 points, which means Fulham going unbeaten in nine games since that loss at Sunderland, would certainly put them amongst the contenders for the play-offs and would give the side untold confidence going into those five six-pointers.

Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic (Image: Evening Gazette)

There's no reason why Fulham can't get results against any of those five either, except Wolves perhaps, and a return of seven points from that period, added to the ten minimum we've set for the next four would put the side in a fantastic position for the run in.

It's an interesting position that the side could find themselves in too - ten points would almost certainly see them go into those five games in the top six, a position that Fulham haven't really been in since dropping down to the Championship.

How would they cope being the ones shot at, instead of being the ones shooting at the top?

I think they'd do quite well with it, Fulham are a side that play on confidence, as we've seen with their winless run this season and their current good run of form - if the side went into those five games having taken 10 points and in the play-offs, who's to say they won't live off that confidence and go from strength to strength?

It's a vital run, these four games have the ability to make or break the season and put Fulham right in amongst it - they have the take this opportunity and come March, we might see the side in heights we didn't imagine they would be come the middle of October.