Zola: Fulham can beat Juventus

Gianfranco Zola reckons the strength of the Premier League means Fulham can overpower Italian giants Juventus tomorrow.

Roy Hodgson yesterday admitted his side would make "history" by beating the Serie A side to reach the last eight of the Europa League.

Fulham will be without suspended captain Danny Murphy in the first leg in Turin as they bid to extend their unbeaten run to 10 games in all competitions.

But injury-ravaged Juventus, who are down in fifth place in Serie A, will be without the injured Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini and Amauri, while Felipe Melo is banned.

And West Ham manager Zola, a former Italy striker, is predicting a "tight game" in Torino because of the high standard of English football.

"I think it will be very close and Fulham have got a chance even against a famous club like Juventus," said the ex-Chelsea forward.

"That tells you that the Premier League is more competitive than Serie A. It is not that there are no good teams in Italy - there are.

“On paper they are very good. But right now the Premier league has got a different speed and different rhythm and everyone is sharper.

“Even Inter, Milan, Juventus, Roma are very good teams but they are not as sharp as the Premier League teams because the competition right now and the speed of the game is making everybody better.

“In the 90s, it was the same for Italy. The competition level was so high over there that everyone was getting better and better. Even myself. I noticed the difference when I came to England. Now the opposite is the case."

Hodgson, the former coach of Inter Milan and Udinese, said: "Until now we have not been able to even think about Juventus because we have had many games.

"But Juve are Juve, a great team, not just in Italy, but in Europe.

"We haven't been given much of a chance to get through and that is fair. But we believe we can do it and if we can, we would be making history for this club."