Gera wary of 'dangerous' Seasiders
Blackpool return to their famous home after opening their first Premier League campaign with successive away games at Wigan and Arsenal. The Seasiders stunned Wigan with a 4-0 victory before crashing to a 6-0 defeat at Arsenal last weekend. Gera knows Fulham will have to brace themselves for a hostile reception as Blackpool home. "It will be a very tough game against Blackpool because they'll be playing their first game at home in the Premier League," said the Hungarian midfielder. "It will be a noisy stadium and they'll be playing with high confidence, so it's a very dangerous fixture for us and we need to prepare very carefully." Gera scored twice in Wednesday night's 6-0 Carling Cup win over Port Vale and he added: "That result will certainly give us good confidence to take into Saturday." Fulham opened their campaign with a goalless draw against Bolton before an impressive performance earned them a share of the spoils against Manchester United last weekend. Mark Hughes then gave £5million summer signing Moussa Dembele his first Fulham start against Port Vale and the Belgian marked the occasion with a well-taken goal. Academy graduate Matthew Briggs also made his first start for Fulham at left-back - three seasons after becoming the youngest Premier League player at the age of 16 years and 65 days. Briggs had to wait until yesterday to make his second senior appearance - but he took his chance with an exciting attacking performance, even if he had little defending to do. The England Under-19 international set up the first goal with a deep cross for Gera and then linked with the Hungarian in the build-up to the first of two Bobby Zamora goals. "Since my debut I've been training hard to keep my development going," said Briggs. "This season the new manager has come in and he's been taking a look at the players available to him and I grabbed my chance as soon as it came. "I wasn't really nervous - I had been been waiting a long time for that moment so I was just determined to make the most of it." "It was good to be named in a strong team too - with experienced players around me. Hopefully it will happen a lot more this season." Gera hailed the impact both Briggs and Dembele made against Port Vale. "Matthew is a very talented young player. The Manager gave him the opportunity and he did very well so it was a good start for him," Gera told fulhamfc.com. "Moussa played very well too, coming deep to pick up the ball, and he took his goal well. "I think he's a good player and a great signing for us."