Steve Sidwell is confident Fulham's pre-season training in the heat and altitude of Costa Rica will pay off when the new campaign kicks off. "Of course it had an effect," the 30-year-old told the club's official website.

"It was tough in the mornings when we trained, but the sessions were short and sharp so you just had to make sure you put the maximum effort in and obviously rest when we could.

"It's obviously nice to get minutes under the belt. It's pre-season so we want to work as hard as we can and the more game time you get, the better it is for the start of the season when it comes.

"I think the trick to reaching peak fitness is more down to games because we had three in a week. We'll be back at Motspur Park soon to train hard and continue to work hard to build up our fitness.

"Obviously we've got the games at Craven Cottage when we're getting close to the start of the season and everyone should be in tip-top condition by then for the start against Sunderland away."