Fulham skipper Danny Murphy is delighted Craven Cottage has been sold out for the derby against Chelsea.

The midfielder told fulhamfc.com: "We've definitely noticed that our support has been more encouraging than last season, but that's partly our own fault because we didn't give them much to sing about last season!

"Our home support has been great, because we've played well and the team has seen some good attacking football but I think, more importantly for me and some of the other lads, we really do appreciate the away support, because it's tough going away.

"Sometimes you're under the cosh and in the last couple of weeks we've been up against two teams in games where the so-called pundits in the media had us down as getting beaten. But we had the belief to go out and get results and the fans shared that belief because they traveled to watch us, so it is something that's been spoken about and something that we hope will long continue because, as I've said before, it does make a difference especially in games like those.

"I remember up at Liverpool in the last 10 minutes when we were defending for our lives and our fans were only a stone's throw away, encouraging us, so it does make a difference, players nationwide will tell you that."