Hodgson's men need to win in a fortnight to reach the last 32 of the competition, with Zoltan Gera's winner at Craven Cottage against CSKA keeping them in the hunt.

Fringe players were brought in ahead of the league clash against Sunderland on Sunday - but the hosts held on to give them hope of qualifying from Group E.

"The Premier League is the major concern and the Europa League comes second to that," Hodgson said. "I don't think the fans will hold anything against us for our performances in this competition. They know when we go to Basle we will be doing our very best.

"We are still trying to do the best we can, the players will be trying hard to get us through and that was evident against CSKA, personified by people like Simon Davies, Zoltan Gera and Bobby Zamora.

"We knew it would be tough for Basle to get anything at Roma so with the four points dropped against Roma we always thought we would have had to win the last two games."

Before Gera's 15th-minute winner, Danny Murphy missed a penalty on his return to action after six weeks out with a knee injury.

"He's our penalty taker," Hodgson said. "It was the first missed since I've been at the club. It wasn't a mistake to let him take it."

CSKA rallied in the second half, possibly inspired by coach Luboslav Penev being in the dug-out after missing the first half.

Penev was named on the team sheet for the visitors after making the late trip to London when a ban on him leaving Bulgaria, for a debt owed, was lifted.

"All credit to CSKA, they had nothing to lose in the last 20 minutes and brought talented players on," Hodgson added. "When you make changes it makes it difficult for players.

"It was foolish to miss a penalty but there were other missed chances and the game could have been dead and buried.

"I'm very pleased that we showed the strength of character to stand up to that."

Hodgson will assess a possible calf injury Simon Davies suffered in the second half.

Penev confirmed he was late to the ground and he felt his side could have had a penalty in the second half when Stephen Kelly appeared to handle.

"I arrived 15 mins before half-time and remained in the tunnel until the break," Penev said. "The most important thing is that I arrived during the game and was close to my assistants and my team.

"I was told about the first 30 minutes, they were fast forgotten and we outplayed Fulham in the second half. This is how I would like my team to play always.

"We deserved a goal and at least a point after creating five or six opportunities. Maybe we should have had a penalty too."