Schwarzer sets sights on Europe

Australia goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer believes Fulham can use their shock win over Manchester United as the springboard to clinch a place in Europe next season.

Schwarzer frustrated United with a series of superb saves before a penalty from Danny Murphy and Zoltan Gera’s late goal at Craven Cottage clinched a famous 2-0 victory for the west London club on Saturday.

The Cottagers star produced one of the stops of the season as he blocked Park Ji-Sung’s close-range effort and then recovered quickly to keep out Rooney’s follow up.

Schwarzer insists Fulham can qualify for Europe if they can reproduce that kind of form in the remaining eight games.

“When you think about what Fulham went through last season, to be where we are at this stage of the season is a credit to everyone at the club,” he said.

“All we want to try and do now is finish in the top half of the table and make it into a very, very good season for us. Anything’s possible.

“I’m hoping for two of the top four teams to be in the FA Cup final so another place goes to the position in the league, and that opens it up for a lot of teams around us to vie for those extra positions for the UEFA Cup.

“If we can continue this sort of form in the upcoming games who knows what will happen.

“I think we’ve played pretty consistently all season. There’s been one or two games along the way where we haven’t been satisfied with how we’ve played but we’ve generally played very well. We haven’t got the results at times we deserved.”

But despite putting United to the sword in an emphatic fashion, Schwarzer still expects Sir Alex Ferguson’s side to win the title for a third successive season.

“You could see even with 10 men they are a world class side,” Schwarzer said. “You’ve got to be on your toes. If you can get a scalp of Man Utd’s calibre you’re on a winner and they’re the ones that look bad.

“But that’s why they’re one of the best teams in the world, if not the best team in the world. It’s a fantastic result.

“I suppose from the title side of things, it’s still in their own hands. They’re still a world class side. We were lucky in that we got them on an off day and things went well for us.

“But all we’re concerned about is how we’re playing and for us it was vitally important to get to 40 points as quickly as possible.

“From day one we’ve been encouraged to play football, no matter who we play against.

“We showed that early on in the season when we played against Arsenal at home and played very good football against them. We’re not one of those teams that launch it and try and turn teams around to put them under pressure.”