Hull City manager Shota Arveladze impressed by what he has seen of leaders Fulham

Simply the best: Hull City manager Shota Arveladze says Fulham are the team to beat in the Championship. Picture: Richard Sellers/PA Wire.

Beating the undisputed title favourites in the shape of Saturday’s opponents Fulham will be a different task entirely and Shota Arveladze’s limited experience of the second tier has already confirmed that fact to him.

On Fulham, who have lost once at league level since October 2 – a 1-0 reverse to Sheffield United on December 20 – Arveladze said: “If I look at the goals they have scored, points they have and the way they play, they are more or less the best team I have seen playing football in this league at this moment.

“There are some other teams as well, but they are quite the compete 11. I don’t know how long they have played together, but they are quite well organised and understanding of each other and play quite attractive football.”

Back: Hull City's Andy Cannon, left, is in the squad for the game with Fulham.
Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe — Back: Hull City's Andy Cannon, left, is in the squad for the game with Fulham. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe

After the feel-good factor of a new takeover and outstanding wins over two of the division’s high achievers, successive losses to Preston and Derby have provided a touch of reality to City and their new head coach.

Arveladze was unhappy with his side’s lack of competitiveness in the midweek loss at Pride Park to a Rams side who are showing terrific fight in their survival mission on an evening when the decision to drop the likes of Richie Smallwood, Ryan Longman, Di’Shon Bernard and Tom Eaves seemed to backfire.

On the need for City to win more battles against Fulham to earn the right to play, he said: “I will not open the discussions I had with the boys. But I repeat what I said (after Derby).

“We should expect more in terms of winning duels and we were quite low in this game in every line. It was a little bit disappointing. We have to definitely improve this.

“I changed a midfielder and got some fresh legs in midfield as well as the games are so short (together).

“You think before the game it can help and that you can have the ball a little bit longer on our side and create possibilities. That is the way it started, but in football, you have opponents who try and stop you doing things.”

Andy Cannon and Callum Elder are back in the mix for Hull, although Nathan Baxter remains sidelined due to illness.

Mallik Wilks had a ‘half-session’ with the team on Thursday, but there is no definitive timescale on his first-team return yet according to Arveladze.