Jack Stephens has called on his Southampton side to make a fast start to their Premier League season.
Speaking to the Daily Echo, the Saints’ academy graduate discussed the importance of the team getting points under their belt early on as the club look to avoid a repeat of last season’s shortcomings.
We’ve spoken about the importance of the start of the season and we know that we’ve got to start well and try and get some results early on because that will give us the momentum to carry on throughout the season.
Southampton’s season got underway with a 0-0 draw on Sunday afternoon, as a resilient Burnley side held them to a stalemate. Saints’ league campaign last term got off to a similar start, too, with Swansea City then holding Mauricio Pellegrino’s side to a goalless draw.
Nevertheless, Stephens is hoping that Saints can put last season’s struggles behind them as they go in search of marked improvement under Mark Hughes.
Last season we started slow and ended up carrying that throughout the whole season. We were disappointed with that, so it’s important we really knuckle down and make sure we get a good start.
Stephens operated in the unfamiliar role of right-back in the second half of the draw with Burnley and will be keen to retain his place once again this weekend as Saints travel to Everton.
