David Smith, sports writer, London Evening Standard answered questions on Fulham for Mail Sport:

How has Martin Jol settled in?

Very well. Roy Hodgson laid the foundations for consistency and a solid defence. Mark Hughes made Fulham more attacking and Jol, from his time at Ajax, has a penchant for attacking football. Jol reckons Fulham’s European games have not helped their fitness because the travelling schedule has stopped them doing a lot of conditioning work.

Summer signings

John Arne Riise, left-back (AS Roma), Marcel Gecov, midfielder (Slovan Liberec), Pajtim Kasami, midfielder (Palermo), Casaba Somogyi, goalkeeper (Rakospalota).

Fulham’s pre-season star?

Andy Johnson. He’s scored three goals in six games and looks back to his best. He and Bobby Zamora are feeding off each other really well. He missed a large portion of last season through injury, but he’s returned looking really sharp, fast and with an eye for goal.

Fulham’s realistic ambitions for this season?

I was speaking to Clint Dempsey the other day and Fulham are hoping to finish higher than last season’s 8th position and have a good run in the Europa League. The highest they’ve ever finished in the Premier League is 7th under Roy Hodgson. I believe they’re capable of matching that.

What’s your perception of Villa?

They seem to have lost a lot of good players. I don’t think they’ll be involved in a relegation battle or be a force at the other end either. I don’t think they’ll finish above Fulham.