Fulham defender Aaron Hughes believes December could be a defining month in the Premier League calendar for his side.Fulham travel to Everton on Saturday and Hughes is well aware that the west London club need to bring back three points from their visit to Merseyside.

But he has one eye on the festive period which, he says, could set them up for a good second half to the season.

Hughes declared: "Christmas is always a busy period with a lot of games squeezed into a very short space of time, but if you can get some positive results over the Christmas period it sets you up nicely going into the second half of the season.

"There are that many games with lots of things that you might not expect to happen; you just have to make sure you're getting the right results for your team, pick up as many points as you can and you can make good progress in the table, maybe more so than at other times of the year.

"Everton are one of those teams, a bit like Blackburn, who have really come on strong in the last couple of seasons. They are one of the toughest teams to play at any time but even more so with having to travel to Goodison Park, which is not an easy place to go to. I don't think that any time in my career have I been there and had an easy game and I have no doubt it will be a similar scenario on Saturday.

"I don't think it matters where you are in the league; it is a tough place to go and get points. David Moyes has created a strong team there and if you want to get anything from them then you have to work hard for it.

"You go into every game looking to win and Saturday will be no different but of course you have to take into consideration who you're playing, perhaps the top teams might being going all out for a win whereas smaller teams might be more wary.

"As the away team you have to be prepared for what is going to be thrown at you but you have to also go with mentality that you can win it."

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