Fulham’s Aaron Hughes believes December could be a defining month in the Barclays Premier League calendar for his side.

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.”