Mark Hughes feels Fulham are shaping up well for the rest of the season.
The Cottagers slipped into the Barclays Premier League relegation zone on Boxing Day following a home defeat against West Ham, but since then they have hauled themselves out of the mire with four fixtures yielding seven points.
The latest of those was secured with a 1-1 draw at Wigan on Saturday, Andrew Johnson’s deflected strike towards the end cancelling out Hugo Rodallega’s opener.
Johnson is one of several Fulham players to have been sidelined by injury this term, but Hughes’ squad is finally approaching a clean bill of health and has also been boosted in the past few days by the arrival of new signing Steve Sidwell.
The manager believes a top-10 finish is a realistic target, with the performance at the DW Stadium giving him further encouragement that things are starting to come together.
“We feel very confident – we have good players coming back and we have added to the squad as well,” Hughes said.
“The likes of Bobby Zamora and Philippe Senderos will be options hopefully very soon, so we are going to be stronger in the second half of the season.
“Our away form is good at the moment and we are not conceding that many goals.
“We are disappointed with the manner of the goal we conceded (against Wigan) in fairness, because that is unlike us away from home.
“I think it’s only Manchester City who have conceded less than us away from home, so we are doing good defensive work, which we will need on our travels.
“Probably what has hampered us a little bit this year is that our home form has been indifferent and we haven’t had the ability to get maximum points from as many home games as we would like.
“But generally, I’m pleased with what we are producing. We look strong and determined and the team is starting to show signs of what I am looking for.”
