Danny Murphy and Bobby Zamora made returns to first team action for Fulham last night, as Hodgson’s side saw off CSKA Sofia 1-0 to keep their Europa League ambitions alive.

The pair were included in a much-changed eleven from the Fulham boss, which saw starts for Gera, Riise and Simon Davies among others. The likes of Duff, Hughes and Dempsey found themselves rested to the bench then, although all three saw action as the match progressed…

Starting in a 4-5-1, Zamora was the lone striker, while Murphy took up his usual central midfield role. Significantly we got some early indication of how their return may affect our fantasy selections, with Murphy striking a woeful penalty over the bar early in the first-half.

Clint Dempsey had been handed spot-kick duties while skipper Murphy sat out the last six weeks through injury. and duly converted at Wigan in the 1-1 draw last month. It will be interesting to see if Murphy will hold spot-kick responsibilities after last night’s miss. Zamora’s return meanwhile could well see Dempsey shifted back to a midfield role. Last night Hodgson chose to push Duff up with Zamora in the latter stages, leaving Dempsey out wide.

In the short-term, it’s not absolutely certain that Murphy and Zamora will be thrown straight in against Sunderland this weekend. Hodgson could look to preserve them having completed the best part of 90 minutes last night. That could well see Dempsey up front in tandem with Nevland. Beyond this however, Dempsey owners will need to monitor how the presence of Murphy and Zamora influences the role and returns of the midfielder who has so far contributed 5 goals.

Elsewhere, Gera scored the winner last night – he could come into the reckoning for a start against Sunderland, particularly as Simon Davies looks unlikely to be in contention. He limped off with a knee injury with ten minutes remaining. Other than that, Fulham got away with no new injuries – Hodgson even had the luxury of resting Hangeland at half-time.