Hughes one up on Wenger

Fulham have re-signed Mark Schwarzer in a timely boost prior to a match with a possible suitor for the Australian, Arsenal.

Manager Mark Hughes got one over counterpart Arsene Wenger on Thursday, when he convinced goalkeeper Schwarzer to snub the Champions League contenders and sign a new deal at Craven Cottage.

The Welshman revealed that Wenger had continued to court the Australian shot-stopper as he neared the end of his contract, in a move that will undermine his already nervous looking number one Lukasz Fabianski, but he slammed the exit door shut.

“I just sat him down and said in black and white terms that Fulham and I need him at the club to be successful,” Hughes said.

“I think their interest has always been there but we have had long talks with Mark and told him that we want him to be here.”

“He is an outstanding keeper and has been in the Premier League for many years. He understands what it’s all about and we are a better team when he is playing.”

“It was an opportunity and he investigated it, at he was entitled to do, but we were not in a position to let it happen. Now it has been concluded I think he is happy with the outcome and we can all move on.”

Fulham will be lifted by the news ahead of their trip to North London in a game that they will be desperate to win to keep them out of the relegation zone. It could also be a good time to play Wenger’s side, which has conceded six goals in their last three league games.

Newcastle founded their 1-0 win over Arsenal in November on a bombardment of aerial balls that put Fabianski under pressure and the former Manchester City boss has refused to rule out using a similar tactic.

“We feel that we have strengths that we intend to play to because if you don’t do that then you have got no chance. We have things that can do as a group that will cause Arsenal problems but I don’t really want to flag those up because they might be reading this,” he said.

“We always look at opposing teams weaknesses and Arsenal will be no different. There are things in the way they play that give us encouragement and we try to emphasise that to the team leading up to the game.”

Hughes cut a sorry figure after suffering a 4-1 defeat to his former employers Manchester City two weeks ago but he believes that Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Birmingham was a step in the right direction.

He added: “I think it was a good performance and we totally dominated the second half especially in terms of chances created. The possession stats were something like 60-40 in our favour but as I have said before we lacked that cutting edge.”

“We got caught in by a good break and had chances to correct the errors made but failed to take them. we created chances but couldn’t get the full three points but performance wise it was decent.”

Fulham have been sucked into the relegation dogfight thanks largely to a number of injuries effecting their selection of strikers. Bobby Zamora suffered a broken leg earlier in the season, Andy Johnson has had a catalogue of problems hindering his form and most recently Mousa Dembele was crocked on international duty with Belgium.

But Hughes is confident that his fine record against Wenger will stand him in good stead for the weekend.

“It’s horses for courses and you work with the players that you have at any given time and what you feel can affect Arsenal’s way of playing,” he said.

“Over the years I think I have done pretty well against them and I have caused them problems, cost them points and won in cup competitions and hopefully that will be the case at the weekend.”