Edwards backs Fulham to rotate

Wolves midfielder Dave Edwards has backed Fulham to rotate their squad against Wolves on Saturday after declaring criticism of the Cottagers is "rubbish."

Fulham host Mick McCarthy's side at the weekend, with one eye on their Europa League semi-final first leg away to Hamburg next Thursday.

McCarthy incurred Wolves a suspended £25,000 fine for making 10 changes against Manchester United last December.

Fulham were criticised by struggling West Ham for making five changes for their game against Hull which they lost 2-0, three days after losing to Tottenham and five days before they beat Wolfsburg in the Europa League.

But Edwards reckons any criticism of Fulham's use of their squad should be thrown in the wastepaper bin.

He said: "I think it's absolute rubbish – there's no point in any Premier League club having more than 18 players if they're not going to use their squad.

"Roy Hodgson has a squad there with players he believes are good enough for the Premier League – it's the same as our manager did up at Manchester United.

"I thought it was a shame that the club got a suspended fine for that because we know that as a squad, we're all equals, we're all as good as each other and all deserve to play.

"Fulham's players got their chance in that game against Hull and even if they didn't quite take that chance, it's a squad game so there are no arguments from us."

Edwards concedes however that Fulham's involvement in the semi-finals could see them catch the Cottagers at the right time, as Saturday's clash will be the Londoners' 55th game of the season before their 17th in Europe.

He said: "I definitely think there's a chance of us catching them when they're not at their best, if maybe they've got one eye on the game on Thursday.

"If we start strongly, hopefully we might get on top of them and get a goal to carry us through.

"I'm sure the manager there will say the extra games don't affect them, but the players will have an eye on that game because I'm sure they'd prefer to play Hamburg in the semi-final of the Europa League than Wolves, with no disrespect to us!"

"I'm not sure what team he'll put out, but I'd imagine he'll be trying his best to get his players geed up."