Hodgson's side looked set for the Championship when they trailed by two goals to Manchester City on April 26 but an astonishing three-goal comeback helped to ease their fears.

Their survival hopes were given a further boost last weekend when they overcame fellow strugglers Birmingham 2-0 at Craven Cottage.

Now a win against Portsmouth in their final game on Sunday will ensure their top flight status for another season.

"I wish there were six or seven more games left to play," said Hodgson. "Then I would be feeling really confident that we could pull ourselves out of it.

"I fear we've left it very late but the great thing is we go into the last game with a chance of success.

"I've got to say, three or four weeks ago, our chances of survival looked so slim. But we didn't lose faith and we've always thought we could do what we've done.

"It would be a great achievement by the team and I'm just a part of it.

"We've got an excellent coaching staff and the players have responded magnificently. The longer we've worked, the better they've got."

"I am, first and foremost, a coach. I get out on the field everyday and work on our attacking and defending."

Looking ahead to challenges which face him and his side in the coming days, he added: "I think it will be a great week. There'll be a lot of media attention, there'll be a lot of speculation; 'can they do it?', 'should they do it?', 'are they the right team to do it?'

"That's what we're in the game for. We'll work hard to make certain we're as well prepared as possible to face Portsmouth. Then I'll brace myself for Sunday.

"That might be a great night or it might be a very bad one. I'll have to brace myself for both possibilities."

Meanwhile, Fulham goalkeeper Kasey Keller says the players also never gave up hope they could survive.

"We always felt that we were capable of doing it," revealed Keller. "We knew that as long as there was a mathematical chance, if we put a run together, we could get ourselves out of trouble,"

"We had that run of games when we had Newcastle, Derby, Reading and Sunderland at home. We couldn't quite put it together. We felt that in those games we had a great chance to get ourselves out of trouble.

"We're not out of trouble yet, but we've got it in our own hands and if you'd of told us this after the Sunderland game, that we'd be going to Portsmouth with it in our hands, we'd of taken it right there and then.

"We're extremely happy but as Roy emphasised earlier in the week - we haven't done anything yet. We've got ourselves in a position where we can do it. We still have to go and have a great performance against Portsmouth."

"They're on a bit of a bad run and players will be trying to prove themselves to be in that FA Cup final team. We know it's a difficult, difficult task ahead of us."

Keller's experience will be crucial on Sunday and he insists that keeping Fulham in the Premier League will be one of the highs of his career.

"Getting out of trouble would be right up there," said Keller. "In my first season with Borussia Mnchengladbach we were able to achieve a similar feat and I just remember that feeling coming home from that trip - it's one that I would thoroughly love to replicate on Sunday."