SONE Aluko says he now has the ultimate incentive to be fully fit for the new season after Hull City were handed a trip to Chelsea on the Premier League's opening weekend.
The unveiling of the 2013-14 fixture list yesterday gave City a mouthwatering start to the campaign when selected as the first opponents of Jose Mourinho's second stint in charge of the Blues.
As well as travelling to Stamford Bridge on August 17, the Tigers can also look forward to an opening home game against Norwich City and a trip to Manuel Pellegrini's Manchester City inside the opening month.
A daunting start awaits Steve Bruce's Championship runners-up but after five months out with an Achilles injury, Aluko is determined to test himself against the big boys.
"It's exciting, I'm really looking forward to it," he told the Mail.
"The first thing you look at is the first game and to have Chelsea away with Mourinho's return, these are the occasions you want to be involved in.
"I'm happy that we've got one of the bigger teams at the beginning. You want to play against the best players out there.
"To be playing Chelsea is great but no matter who we were going to play, our first game back in the Premier League was always going to be a big one."
With Chelsea and Mourinho in his sights, Aluko has more reason than most to ensure pre-season goes smoothly.
Sidelined since mid-January, the 24-year-old was a frustrated onlooker as the Tigers clinched a dramatic final day promotion out of the Championship last month.
Bruce's history-making squad return for training two weeks from today and Aluko's hard yards throughout the close season will ensure he is welcomed back into the fold.
"I'll be ready," he said. "I'll be joining the team for pre-season and if all goes well and I don't pick up any more niggles, I'll be fit to go.
"I might not do every session throughout pre-season, given my own pre-season training programmes that I've been doing through the summer, but I won't be going in there cold.
"For me, the summer has been all about getting back fit.
"The first week was all the craziness of promotion but after that it's been a lot of training and gym work.
"I had a week away and came back again. Usually everyone wants to have a summer but I wouldn't have enjoyed it if I knew I wouldn't have been ready when I came back.
"It's not even been a sacrifice to be honest. I've been working to get fit for the Premier League so it's something I've been more than happy to do."
The path of City's new season was mapped out yesterday morning with the eagerly-awaited publication of the 2013-14 fixture list.
While Chelsea, Manchester City, Newcastle, Everton and Spurs will provide stiff early opposition on the road, the Tigers have been handed a relatively generous series of fixtures at the KC.
Norwich, Cardiff, West Ham, Aston Villa, Sunderland and Crystal Palace will be the first six visitors to East Yorkshire and Aluko knows big returns must come on home soil.
"Our home form was always going to be key, no matter who we were playing," he added.
"If you want to stay up or do anything in this league, you need to pick up plenty of home points.
"If 40 points is your first target, you know it would be beneficial to get as many points as you can from your 19 home games.
"Picking up points away from home will be tough so we have to target plenty of points on the board here at the KC."
• Complete fixtures for Hull City's 2013-14 Premier League season
