After 2011 snub, Fulham will relish the opportunity to heap pressure on Mark Hughes

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When Southampton travel to Craven Cottage for a relegation six-pointer on Saturday, the reunion between Mark Hughes and Fulham will take centre stage.

Fulham will relish the opportunity to heap pressure on the struggling Saints manager, a figure who is widely despised at the club.

The Welshman spent an eventful season in SW6 in 2010/11, where he oversaw a top-half finish but shocked the Fulham faithful when he acrimoniously resigned in June 2011.

According to comments reported by the Telegraph at the time, Hughes said Fulham lacked ambition and he was eager to manage at a club with greater aspirations.

Hughes’ conduct after leaving the club infuriated Fulham fans, and a great deal of animosity exists between the supporters and the former Whites boss.

While at Queens Park Rangers and later Stoke City, Fulham fans have delighted in Hughes’ failures, and Saturday would be the perfect time to put the Southampton manager under serious pressure.

The Saints are without a win in eight league matches and are only outside of the drop zone on goal difference; a Fulham victory on the weekend might very well spell the last match of Hughes’ time at St. Mary’s.

With Fulham needing the three points perhaps more than anyone else in the division, it would be sweet revenge if Claudio Ranieri’s first match in charge led to Mark Hughes’ Southampton sacking.