Aaron Hughes is looking forward to possibly facing Chelsea’s new look front line of Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba when the Whites face Chelsea at Craven Cottage on Monday evening (Kick-off 8pm).
Fulham have been in fine form since the festive period, losing only twice in the last ten games and Hughes is hoping to continue that form in the SW6 derby.
“There are a lot of London derby games but it’s the South West London derby on Monday night - it’s the big one,” Hughes told fulhamfc.com. “They are just up the road and this match is about pride.
"They’re seen as the big spending, highflying club that are expected to win titles. These games are always great to play in and they’re good for the fans.
“You want to test yourself against the best players and that’s why everyone always singles out these big games because we enjoy playing in them. It’s about coming up against the best and testing yourself against them.
“One of Chelsea’s strengths is being able to go out and buy a player of Torres’ calibre. It’s going to be a tough night on Monday. If you switch off for a second against a player of his [Torres] calibre you will get punished. Your concentration has to be spot on for the entire game.
“Drogba’s powerful and strong and you’ve got to pick your moments when to go shoulder-to-shoulder with him. If you’re not 100% certain, you can get embarrassed because he’s got the strength to roll you. He can play off your shoulder as well because he’s got that power.”
Fulham have enjoyed an impressive record at Craven Cottage of late, in fact you would have to look back to Boxing Day to find the last Premier League goal the Whites conceded on home turf. A good defensive base at the Cottage has provided the team with a fine foundation upon which to build.
But it was Fulham’s emphatic four-goal FA Cup victory over Tottenham at the Cottage that really emphasised the team’s upturn in form.
“We never lost confidence or belief in what we were doing,” Hughes explained. “There’s always been the sense that we’ve got a lot of ability and good players in the squad. We knew it would eventually turn and I think the Spurs game is a good example of that.
“We came in off the pitch from that game and said, ‘that’s how we want to play’. We want to go at teams and if we do that every week we’re going to get something from a game because you can’t play that well and create so many chances without picking up points.
“We don’t have one or two big massive star players at Fulham. We’ve got good, honest, hard working professionals who know what it takes to survive in this league. That’s how we work and how we’ve worked over the last few years. One of the core values of the Club is that everyone contributes and I think that’s why we’ve had the success we’ve had over the past few years. Everyone who plays knows their job and exactly what they need to do.
“Gradually we got used to what was being asked of us and took it on board. Now we’re getting good results from it. Hopefully this little run we’ve been on can continue right through until the end of the season.”