Fulham centre-back Aaron Hughes has insisted that the players are "still fighting" in the bid to retain their Premier League status.

The Whites have just 10 points from their 14 games so far, which has left them 18th in the table, and Hughes said that the players must now take responsibility in order to begin to put things right.

"I thought we were very unlucky not to get something against Tottenham Hotspur," he told Fulham's official website. "There was a lot of energy in the performance but we were undone by two good strikes. We were disappointed with the result but felt we can take a lot of positives from our display.

"We couldn't do anything about [previous manager Martin Jol's sacking] - we just had to try to turn a corner. The manager left but it was important for us not to be distracted and try to win the game.

"As players, we have to take responsibility. We expect better of ourselves and needed to lift our game. It's easy to point fingers and blame other people but we haven't done that - we've stuck together and gone out and put in a good performance. We're still fighting."

Fulham host Aston Villa at 1.30pm on Sunday.