Gary Lineker and Micah Richards have been raving about Fulham captain Tom Cairney after his recent performances.
The pair were chatting alongside Alan Shearer on The Rest is Football Podcast.
It’s been an unbelievable seven days to be a Fulham fan, after back-to-back 5-0 wins at Craven Cottage.
Nottingham Forest and West Ham simply couldn’t cope with Marco Silva’s side who are now in the top half of the Premier League after a tough spell before the last international break.
Any concerns over Fulham’s ability to score goals have been quashed over the last few weeks.
No team in the Premier League has scored more than the Whites since the last international break and Raul Jimenez finally seems to be finding his feet in West London.
The obvious change to the team that Silva has made has been to introduce Tom Cairney to the starting line-up.
The 32-year-old earned plenty of praise from Silva after the West Ham match as he once again controlled proceedings in the centre of the pitch.
Gary Lineker has now suggested that Tom Cairney is underrated but no one at Fulham would ever suggest such a thing.
After notching his 300th appearance for the club at the weekend, there will be calls for his time at the club to be extended into a tenth season next year.
The way he’s playing right now, how can Fulham say no to a new deal?
Lineker and Richards praise Fulham star Cairney
Speaking about Fulham’s recent upturn, Micah Richards said: “There’s been a little tweak that he’s done as well, he’s brought back in Tom Cairney into that centre midfield role.
Gary Lineker added: “He’s a really gifted player Cairney, isn’t he? I think he’s underrated! Do you not think he’s underrated?
Richards replied: “In the Championship he was unbelievable, I remember when I was in the Championship I was thinking, who is this guy?
“He sort of came to the Premier League, didn’t get as many games as you thought [he would] the second time around, I was thinking, he’s so good on the ball.
“Lovely left foot, can see a pass, he always looks to play forward, he gives a license to [Alex] Iwobi to go down the wing and I just think he brings so much to this team attacking-wise.”
Fulham don’t tend to get too much attention from major media outlets but Lineker and Co. will have to pay more attention to Cairney and his teammates going forward.
Richards’s assessment of Cairney’s past campaigns in the Premier League is very harsh considering the injury troubles he had during that time.
The midfielder had a long-term knee injury during the 2020/21 season that ruled him out for essentially an entire campaign, while he was plagued with smaller issues during other top-flight seasons.
Cairney now looks fully fit and Silva trusts him to play a lot more minutes than last year which is very positive.
He’s not played for Scotland since 2018 but with a Euros on the horizon next summer, surely a late call-up isn’t off the cards?