Roy Hodgson has warned Arsene Wenger he faces a fight to prise Brede Hangeland away from Fulham, who value him at £15million.

The Fulham manager was responding to his Arsenal counterpart confirming an interest in the 28-year-old Norway defender.

Talking last night after his side had reached the Europa League play-offs, Hodgson said: "It is interesting that Arsene has finally come out and said that.

"When a bigger club than yourself is interested or connected with one of your players, it is source of worry because Brede is very important for us.

"He is one of our key figures, and if we lost him it would be an enormous blow. But we're not looking to sell players. In fact, my chairman is encouraging me to add to our squad."

Hangeland played in the 3-0 victory over Lithuania's FK Vetra at Craven Cottage, which gave Fulham a 6-0 victory on aggregate.

Dickson Etuhu opened the scoring, with the other goals coming from Andy Johnson.