Hughes: we must take our chances

MARK HUGHES has told his Fulham players they must take full advantage of Arsenal’s defensive frailty if they are to stand a chance of a first ever away win against their London rivals today.

The Gunners have lost their last two Premier League home games and three of their last five in what has been a frustrating start to the season in front of their own fans. West Brom, Newcastle and Tottenham have all recorded shock victories at the Emirates but a Fulham win after more than a century of trying would arguably be the biggest surprise of the lot.

“I have probably seen Arsenal more times this season than any other team in fairness,” Hughes said.

“The quality they have on occasions is excellent. At times, defensively, they have been caught out. We will use that as a positive.

“There is no doubt in my mind that we can create situations that will ask questions of them. It is up to us to take the chances that present themselves.”

Despite having lost as many home games as any side in the division, Arsenal are only two points behind leaders Manchester United and Hughes is refusing to write off their title hopes.

“Chelsea have been pegged back and United, obviously, will always challenge, you feel,” he said.

“Arsenal would hope that this year they would show some progress in terms of challenging for the title. It doesn’t seem as if any one side at the top wants to grab the opportunity and run away with the league this year. Arsenal, I would imagine within their own confines, would think they’ve got a hell of a chance.”

Arsene Wenger, meanwhile, insisted yesterday his side would return to winning ways at home.

“I don’t worry about it because you win football games when you play well nine times out of 10,” said Wenger. “Let’s focus on playing well. Psychologically, we won on Tuesday night (against Wigan in the Carling Cup) and we won the game before against Aston Villa, so it will be down to the quality of our performance.

“Our away form got us in a good position in the table but of course we want our home form from now to take off. If we can combine the two we have a good chance and that is our target.”

Wenger confirmed he had no intentions of buying or selling in the January transfer window, nor was he disappointed that Fulham’s Mark Schwarzer, a transfer target for the Gunners last summer, has signed a new two-year deal with Fulham.

Wenger instead insisted he had confidence in Lukasz Fabianski.

He said: “I always had (confidence) and I have even more now. He has shown in the last two months that he has the quality to play for Arsenal. At the moment we are not in the market.”

Robin van Persie is in the squad to face Fulham and Wenger insisted the Dutch striker could be used in tandem with Marouane Chamakh.

“Van Persie is getting stronger every day,” explained Wenger. “He had 70 minutes the other night and I am confident that if we can get him injury-free in the next three weeks he will be back to his best level.

“We can play Chamakh and Van Persie together. We can play Chamakh up front and van Persie behind. What is interesting is we can play all kinds of formations with the two.”

Wenger also reiterated his belief that the Premier League is wide open and as many as seven clubs are in the race for the title.

“I have not changed my mind,” said Wenger. “Maybe I was a bit strong when I said seven but if you look purely mathematically yes, but if you look more at the quality of the squads you would go down a bit. Manchester United have been the most consistent but they have won less games so they couldn’t get away from anybody else.

But five or six can still win it.”

On the January transfer window Wenger said: “The squad is quite big. Unless some players go, I will have to do something to bring players in but at the moment my intention is not to sell and not to strengthen in any area because I am happy with the players I have.”