Roy Hodgson has vowed to lose no time in discovering whether striker Jari Litmanen has enough left in the tank to help the Cottagers.The Londoners are five points adrift of safety in the Premier League and were knocked out of the FA Cup at Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night after the League One outfit triumphed in a penalty shoot-out.

The win was no more than Rovers deserved and a frustrating night at the muddy Memorial Stadium will be the Fulham fans' last look at the side left by previous manager Lawrie Sanchez, who was sacked in December.

Hodgson has already brought in two new faces in Scandinavians Brede Hangeland and Leon Andreasen, neither of whom was eligible to play on Tuesday night, and could bring that total to seven by the end of the month.

Champions League winner Litmanen is already training with the Cottagers and knows Hodgson well from their time together with the Finland national team but as he turns 37 next month and has not been at a club since July 2007, time is hardly on his side.

Hodgson was hopeful nonetheless.

He said: "He hasn't played for a while and we must see how fit he is and how he feels about the situation, whether he feels he is going to be fit enough to help us, but he is a quality player.

"We have worked together before, I know he likes to work with me and I like to work with him and, if his fitness holds up, he is a free agent so there is no reason why we shouldn't invite him to join us for the rest of the season.

"I'm not so sure he would have been a great addition to the cup game, he wouldn't have enjoyed playing out there, but we don't play all our games in those conditions and I'm pretty sure he could be a great addition to us because he is a very talented footballer."

Rangers striker Daniel Cousin appears to be bound for Craven Cottage as well and the club are understood to be continuing negotiations with Watford for Marlon King, whose knee problems are so far proving to be a sticking point.

A number of other players were also on the radar, Hodgson confirmed.

He said: "We are looking to bring in quality players who can make us better so if we can find another two or three like the ones we have got in then it could be as many as six or seven.

"But we are not looking for numbers, we are looking for players who will give us something different."

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