Manager Roy Hodgson made sweeping changes in the squad which narrowly dodged the drop last term and was rewarded with a good start to the new campaign in which Fulham recovered from an opening day defeat at Hull to beat Arsenal, Leicester (Carling Cup) and Bolton in consecutive matches.

But Saturday's 1-0 defeat at West Bromwich Albion followed setbacks against Blackburn, Burnley (Carling Cup) and West Ham and Murphy admitted: "It's been a strange few games. Everyone was feeling flat and disappointed after Saturday.

"But we can't get too down and the most important thing is we that we don't lose confidence.

"But we are a Premier League side with a squad to be able to cope with the problem of sometimes being without top players and we won't be making that an excuse for the result at West Brom."