Fulham hoping Cairney will return against Ipswich

Fulham hope to have captain Tom Cairney fit in time to face Ipswich Town on Saturday.

The Scotland midfielder has missed three of the Whites’ first five games this season in all competitions with a recurring knee problem.

He has been ruled out of the EFL Cup game with Bristol Rovers but boss Slavisa Jokanovic hopes to have him back for the weekend.

“Actually right now he is not working with us, he is not in the squad, but we are going to push to get him ready for the Ipswich game,” Jokanovic told Fulham’s website.

“The start of the Championship, and pre-season too, there have been many problems with him. He has some problems with his knee, he missed a lot of training, many games too.

“After this game we are going to have two weeks [during the international break] and we are going to try and work with him and recover his power and find a better level that we know he can offer us.

“Tom Cairney is our most important player. We created a kind of style around him.”