Brede Hangeland's still targeting a best-ever finish

Brede Hangeland has insisted Fulham will bounce back from a heartbreak defeat against Liverpool by going on to finish higher than the club's best-ever Premier League position of ninth.

And the defender revealed that Fulham's players may also be motivated by chasing a place in Europe next season, even though Saturday's 1-0 setback at home to Liverpool leaves them two places below the seventh position which will almost certainly earn a place in the new Europa Cup.

Yossi Benayoun's 92nd-minute goal came as a low blow to a Fulham side that looked like repeating the goalless draw achieved at Anfield.

Hangeland said: "It was disappointing to lose like that. But if we play well we could still have the best season Fulham have ever had in the Premier League."

However, manager Roy Hodgson continues to play down the prospect of European football, insisting: "Nobody at the club has talked about it." Maybe not in his presence but it has clearly been in the back of a few minds in the dressing room.

Hangeland added: "I'm sure if you asked the players they would love to achieve it."

In 2006 Hangeland was a member of the FC Copenhagen side that shocked Manchester United with a 1-0 home win in the Champions League and he said: "Some of the most memorable games I've taken part in have been in Europe. It would be great to make it."

Hodgson has expressed his concern that the demands of a European adventure next season would stretch his small squad so much that Premier League form might suffer to the point where relegation becomes an issue again.

Instead, he has set a more pragmatic target of emulating what David Moyes has achieved at Goodison Park. Hodgson said: "Our base is solid. One would hope that we'd get even stronger in the same way that Everton have done year by year."