Footballers are famous for believing more in superstitions and omens than statistics and cold, hard facts, which may be just as well for the players of Fulham. Their 1-0 victory over Everton on Sunday was an excellent result and will have caused concern as high up the Barclays Premier League table as twelfth place among clubs who assumed that there was only one more relegation place to avoid, but the odds must be against Fulham's survival.

Roy Hodgson's team have not won away from Craven Cottage in the league since September 9, 2006, so the fact that five of their eight remaining matches are on the road spells trouble. True, Newcastle United, Derby County and Reading - their next three hosts - hardly represent the most formidable opposition. And Manchester City are no longer impregnable at the City of Manchester Stadium, while Portsmouth, whom they play in the final match of the campaign, may be resting players before the FA Cup Final. But Fulham travelled north in confident mood after beating Aston Villa at home last month and still lost 1-0 away to Middlesbrough.

Nevertheless, there is a sense in the camp that Saturday's visit to St James' Park - the scene of their most recent away league win - represents their best chance of ending their dismal run on the road. “We are trying not to think about the away record too much,” Simon Davies, the midfield player who provided the cross for Brian McBride's winner on Sunday, said. “Newcastle are struggling and if we can go there and perform well and they feel the pressure from their crowd then we might have a chance, but every game is going to be difficult from now on.

“When we beat Villa we really wanted to kick on and get some momentum going, so it was really disappointing going away to Middlesbrough and losing. We have got to make sure that does not happen again. If we can come away with something from Newcastle, then we can take some momentum into the next few games, including Sunderland at home.

“The manager said last week that if we can go undefeated in the last ten games, or as near as possible, then we have a good chance, and that is now a win and a draw with eight more left. But we do not want to get too far ahead of ourselves because we have a massive game against Newcastle. We have had 11 draws this season, so we need wins. We have to dig in and hopefully the strikers can go on a run of scoring goals.”

McBride's first goal since suffering a serious knee injury in August was especially welcome. Free kicks by Jimmy Bullard accounted for the winner against Villa and the equaliser away to Blackburn Rovers, making Davies Fulham's only other Premier League scorer in open play in 2008. Eddie Johnson, the United States forward signed from the Kansas City Wizards in January, has looked well short of Premier League standard so far.

“Brian is a massive player for the team,” Davies said. “We missed him as soon as he was injured. We tried to battle on, but him coming back is a huge boost. It is difficult coming back from an injury like that and he needed a few games to get going, but he led the line brilliantly [against Everton] and he scored a well-deserved goal.”

Fulham also received a boost last week when Mohamed Al Fayed, the owner, addressed the players. “He told us that he believed in us and that we had the quality to survive but that we had to believe in ourselves,” Davies said. “He said we needed that one win on the board and we could go on from there. He was basically trying to show us that he is behind us.”

Perhaps Niall Quinn, of Sunderland, Chris Mort, of Newcastle, Phil Gartside, of Bolton Wanderers, and other chairmen of clubs in the relegation battle will soon be doing likewise.