Help Sessegnon so we can get to Wembley, urges Jokanovic

SLAVISA JOKANOVIC has backed Ryan Sessegnon to fire Fulham to Wembley despite a dip in form. The teenager, who cleaned up at the EFL awards last month, has scored once in his last 12 games and struggled to make an impact in the play-off defeat at Derby on Friday. Ahead of tonight’s second leg at Craven Cottage, the Fulham boss said: ‘This kid doesn’t need any pressure. He’s only 17 and to talk about our possibilities on the back of one kid is not right. He’s shown many times that he is a great lad, great footballer and great worker. ‘This man, a 17-year-old, is the top scorer. He has a really bright future, not only for Fulham but probably for England.’ Sessegnon has an outside chance of making Gareth Southgate’s long list for the World Cup and Jokanovic called on his team-mates to chip in as they gun for a return to the Premier League. ‘Ryan needs the help from people around him,’ Jokanovic said. ‘I won and lost games, sometimes I played badly or very well, and it’s not important. ‘This kid has a really important future. He has a really clear mind. We know what we must do to get to Wembley.’ Derby manager Gary Rowett believes having a squad packed full of Premier League experience should stand them in good stead if they learn from mistakes earlier in the season, when their bid for automatic promotion fell away. ‘That is why February and March disappointed me so much, because with the experience we have I was convinced we wouldn’t do that,’ he said. ‘I felt we wouldn’t drop away, but we did. We felt it might just give us that little bit of know-how when we need it. So, here we are, and we will find out.’