Fulham manager Marco Silva has praised goalkeeper Bernd Leno ahead of the match against his former club Arsenal, saying he’s one of the three best keepers in the country.

Leno, who joined Fulham this season after leaving Arsenal, has kept seven clean sheets and made 96 saves in the Premier League this season.

In his pre-Arsenal press conference, Silva praised Leno’s quality and added that he was one of the three best goalkeepers in the country.

“We knew his quality because we were really patient. He was our first and only target for that position,” Silva said.

“We waited for the time that we needed to get him inside.

“He really wanted to join us and to embrace the challenge with us, but from the first day I said it was really important.

“We wanted to see and define our targets and of course my conversations with Bernd were important.

“We have to be really pleased to have him with us and our fans have to be pleased to have a goalkeeper like him in our football club.

“I don’t have doubts he’s one of the three best goalkeepers in the country, in this competition.”

Silva also spoke about the contributions of other former Arsenal players in the Fulham team, Cedric Soares and Willian.

Silva said that they could talk about Arsenal and learn something more from Leno and Cedric, but added that they knew everything about the Gunners’ playing style.

“We have Bernd and we have Cedric,” Silva added.

“Of course it (Arsenal) is something that we can talk (about), we have more sessions, we have a session (on Saturday).

“To be honest, it’s so clear what they do and how they do it. They do it simply but they do it really well.

“It will not be the first time that we played against them.

“We know everything – of course in some chats with them (Leno and Cedric) we can learn something more, but it is clear what they try to do.”

Silva emphasised the importance of keeping Willian fit and playing with a smile on his face, describing him as a top player who had been brilliant for Fulham this season.

“He’s been brilliant, he’s done really well,” Silva said.

“A really humble person and a top, top player, we just have to keep him as fit as we can and keep (him) playing with a smile on his face, that’s the most important thing for me and for us a football club.”

Silva also talked about the importance of the match against Arsenal and said that his team was fully focused on getting a good result.

Silva said that the team had prepared well for the match and that they were confident of getting a good result.