Ebbsfleet manager Dennis Kutrieb wants his team to respond in the best way possible to back-to-back league defeats.

The Fleet play the first game of their festive double-header against rivals Dartford at Stonebridge Road on Boxing Day.

But they have lost their last two league matches, including a 1-0 defeat at lowly Cheshunt on Tuesday night, and failed to score a goal in the process.

Despite that, Kutrieb knows how much the derby means to the supporters - and this year it provides his team with the perfect chance to silence anyone doubting their title credentials.

“I’m very excited,” said the Fleet boss. “It’s two teams up there in the table, we’ll both want to win this game.

“It’s a great challenge for us and we’ll need to do things better than we did on Tuesday night if we want to have a chance. I’m looking forward to it as everyone will be up for it.

“It would be a great game to bounce back, the ground will be packed and the fans will be right behind us.

“It’s Boxing Day, everyone is up for it. We need to bounce back and we will prepare the boys so we’re ready to go.”

Ebbsfleet are well known for their stylish football this season, but Kutrieb conceded that they need to win the battle first before they can impose their style of play on Dartford.

He added: “We need to deliver the basics in the right way, better than the opponent, because everyone can tackle, everyone can fight, everyone can win headers, everyone can win 50-50 battles.

“You have to do that, especially in a derby. That’s what you need to do regardless of where you are in the table or how good you can play.”

All of Kutrieb’s previous clashes with Dartford have been when Steve King was in the opposite dugout. But this time he comes up against Alan Dowson for the first time.

“Both games were very tight last season and that’s what I expect again,” said Kutrieb.

“It will be tight because they are a good team, they have some very good players.

“I like their manager as he isn’t lying, he speaks honestly and that’s what I like about him. I liked him when he was at Woking.

“He’s a good manager and they will fight and put everything on the line and that’s what we have to do as well.”

Ebbsfleet could welcome back as many as four players for the Dartford clash.

Captain Chris Solly is fit again after an ankle injury but illness ruled him out at Cheshunt. Greg Cundle and Josh Wright have both returned to training while Luke O’Neill is due to feature after being rested in midweek.

“Dom [Poleon] was ill for one- and-a-half weeks, he needs a bit of time still,” added Kutrieb.

“Our captain was still not available, he’s back from injury but is ill at the moment so he’ll be back in a few days. Greg Cundle is training but it’s a bit too early, we needed to rest Luke O’Neill, Josh Wright is back in training.

“We have enough to freshen things up. You have games like [Cheshunt] in a season and you will always experience them where you need to overcome it as a team, learn from it and grow from it.

“They will come to us and we need to show them we are good enough to beat them.

“It’s still a good season, we’re top of the table so I won’t get carried away with two league defeats, the same way I didn’t get carried away when we had nine wins in a row.

“We will have spells when we are not as good as we were in the beginning, there are obvious reasons for that and we’re unlucky on top of it. But we will stay together, we know exactly what we can do better.

“We were still good enough to create chances (on Tuesday), we just didn’t put them in the back of the net.

“It’s not like we have no chance if they are not playing, we still have enough chances to win games. But we need to grow from these defeats and do better as a team.”