Zamora is on the brink of making his comeback from almost five months on the sidelines after undergoing surgery in September.
Fulham struggled badly in his absence towards the end of 2010, with an eight-match winless run ultimately seeing them sucked into the Barclays Premier League drop zone.
But they go into the trip to Aston Villa having won six of their last nine games in all competitions and 12th in the league table.
The return of Zamora's fellow forwards Moussa Dembele and Andy Johnson from injury has revitalised the Cottagers and Hughes insists last season's talisman now has a real fight on to reclaim his place.
"He understands that the squad is evolving now and the squad is getting bigger and stronger," said Hughes, who this week added Eidur Gudjohnsen to his pool of forwards.
"Bobby knows he needs to work hard to get back in the side but, given his desire to get back in, that shouldn't faze him at all."
Source: PA
