Antti Niemi has backed Roy Hodgson to keep Fulham in the Premiership.

"Definitely, I'm more positive now than I was a few weeks ago," he said.

"Some people have this thing, I don't know what it is, but they are born to be leaders. And that is what Roy is. His tactical know-how is unbelievable.

"Okay, things won't change overnight but I am 100 per cent sure we are going to be more difficult to beat over the coming weeks than we've been in the last year.

"A lot of it is to do with the way Roy organises things. It's not rocket science. It is simple things that you have to get through to players, and that is something we were missing earlier in the season.

"Then, we'd turn up on the pitch and people were like 'what are we trying to do?' I don't want to be too critical about Lawrie Sanchez but I'm trying to make the point that Roy really knows what he's doing."