Bobby Zamora’s goal rush attracts the vultures

Top man: Bobby Zamora has been in great form with Fulham this season
Dean Jones11 April 2012

Roy Hodgson believes Bobby Zamora can hit the 20-goal target this season.

But the Fulham manager realises the striker's rich vein of form comes at a price, as he expects to spend the remainder of the January transfer window fending off interest from bigger clubs who are keen to take Zamora away from Craven Cottage.

The scenario is not one Fulham fans would have predicted. Zamora managed only four goals last season and, although Hodgson always insisted it was his all-round play that made him such a pivotal part of the team, some struggled to see it.

So now that Zamora has added regular goals to his repertoire, it seems ironic that his build-up play is also getting more credit than ever.

Fulham face a difficult game at Stoke tonight and Hodgson is bracing himself for a tough time over the coming weeks as Premier League vultures begin to circle over west London, hoping to secure the signature of a forward who is being heavily touted for an England call-up ahead of the World Cup finals.

"Bobby is attracting interest," Hodgson said.

"There are not so many players of his type playing in the Premier League and even fewer are English.

"There are a few foreign players of a similar ilk but Bobby's type of player has become, funnily enough, less common than the Andy Johnson sort of player.

"That was always the opposite in the past. We used to produce a lot of big, strong, target-men centre-forwards and we were always lamenting the fact that we didn't have the little, quick, tricky ones to play off them.

"Now it seems there is a dearth of target players, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if we have calls for Bobby.

"We'll tell them, hopefully, that he is not for sale and we hope he wants to stay with us as well."

Hodgson deserves praise for the way he stood by his decision to play Zamora week-in, week-out, even when things were not going well.

After a goal against Sunderland last month, Zamora infamously screamed abuse at his own fans. The frustrations of a few boo-boys had affected him, yet it is since that goal that Zamora has found a hot streak, scoring six times in seven outings.

Hodgson said: "His confidence must have been a little bit low in front of goal before, but I thought he was great on the ball and has never hidden.

"He has 11 goals now and if we can get him to 20 that will be fantastic. The way he is going at the moment, he's well on target for that."

Fulham's last visit to Stoke ended goalless and as they have recorded only one success on the road so far this campaign a repeat result may not be considered such a bad thing.

"There's some really important Premier League points at stake for both teams," Hodgson said. "Stoke have had one or two blips recently but they are a tough team on their own ground.

"We'll have to defend at least as well we did against Swindon at the weekend, if not better."

Tonight's football — Carling Cup semi-final, 1st leg: Blackburn v Aston Villa (postponed). Premier League: Stoke v Fulham (7.45).

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