Roy Hodgson has assured Fulham fans there is no need to panic despite the Cottagers slipping to their fourth defeat of the Premier League season last weekend.

The unfortunate 1-0 home loss to Arsenal in a game Fulham dominated sees the Craven Cottage side sitting just above the drop-zone.

But Hodgson insisted he is not overly concerned.

He said: “We have had a difficult start to the season with some very difficult games.

“Already we have played four teams that finished in the top six last year.

“We just have to keep our heads and make certain we play as well as we did against Arsenal week in, week out as if we do that we will not have much to worry about.”

Fulham found Arsenal stand-in keeper Vito Mannone in inspired form at the weekend, and fell foul of a second-half Robin Van Persie strike.

But the Cottagers boss still found plenty to please him.

Hodgson added: “If you take the overall performance from the game we feel that we were value for something.

“In fact I don’t think we could have played that much better.

“We created enough chances but we did not score and in football you usually get punished for that.”

Fulham are back in Europa League action this week against FC Basel, and this weekend sees them travel to West Ham.

And Hodgson remains philosophical about the prospects for this campaign.

He added: “It is a long season and there an awful lot of games to play.

“We just have to get up to the level of performance that we know we are capable of.

“We have West Ham next and then the international break, and it would be nice to head into that break on the back of a win.”

Fulham’s next three fixtures: Oct 4 West Ham (a), 19 Hull City (h), 22 Roma (EL, h)