JEAN Tigana had plenty to smile about as he enjoyed the distinction, albeit briefly, of seeing Fulham on top of the Premier League.

The toothpick-chewing Frenchman does not see the "cottageless" Cottagers challenging the elite but, in beating Wanderers 4-1, they banked three precious points and recorded their highest ever Premiership score.

And he is content in the knowledge that he has emerged triumphant in his behind-the-scenes power struggle with Franco Baresi.

The Italian legend, recruited as director of football by Mohamed Al Fayed on a three-year contract, has now been downgraded to special adviser on six-months' probation.

Tigana has also been justified in taking Fulham into the Intertoto Cup, not only because they are now being on the verge of Uefa Cup qualification but also having gone into Saturday's opener at Loftus Road in better nick than Wanderers.

All in all it has been a good summer for the Fulham boss.

"I thought the biggest difference was the physical one," Tigana said. "We played hard games before and that was most important.

"We didn't finish last year as well as we might and I spent a lot of the summer concentrating on getting the balance right. The Intertoto Cup was a good focus for us and gave us football at a high level."

Tigana is making no wild predictions and prefers to be realistic about Fulham's chances but he likes the way things are going.

"Realistically we are trying to fight with the teams that occupy sixth to eighth spot in the league," he said. "It depends very much on injuries and other things. In this game we were at our best, tomorrow we could be at our worst.

"It did not surprise me (how well Fulham played) because I know my team can play football and we played with strength and discipline. But the best they have played was against Bologna (a midweek draw in the first leg of the Intertoto final). That gave us a big boost going into this game."

Having seen his expensively-assembled squad struggle for goals last season - the three they scored against Wanderers in April was their highest - Tigana was delighted to see midfielder Sylvain Legwinski contribute to Wanderers' downfall with two excellent strikes.

"Last year only the strikers and Malbranque scored the goals so I'm pleased that another midfielder has scored," he enthused. "The key to the season could be scoring from midfield to back up the strikers."

And hinting that he has fended off any threat to his position from Baresi, he added: "It has been a difficult summer but I like the difficulties. It has been a good experience.

"Being a manager is all about dealing with problems. Every day I go to sit at my office desk and there are problems. I've had a few problems in the summer but I am pleased to say the people in the club were strong and showed good heart."