Southampton boss Mark Hughes is confident his side will perform with energy in Monday’s game against Brighton, despite proceedings being halted by the international break.
The Saints have been made to wait for their next league meeting, 16 days after defeating Crystal Palace 2-0 in an emphatic display at Selhurst Park.
Hughes’ men started the season fairly cautiously, with draws against Burnley and Everton, but have started to rediscover their attacking abilities as of late, and look a much more threatening side going forward.
The arrival of Danny Ings from Liverpool has been a significant factor in this, as he’s helped himself to two goals in four appearances for his boyhood club.
Defensively they still look slightly shaky but have had a lot of time to work on this during the international period.
But Hughes, as quoted by the club’s official website, remains confident going into Monday night’s fixture at St Mary’s and believes the amount of preparation time they’ve had could be key.
With extra days leading into the game, it’s a normal set-up, sometimes if you’re playing on a Saturday, you’ve got guys coming back on the Thursday and not able to train with the group, and Friday’s the first time you see them with the group.
We’ve got the benefit of getting most of them back on Thursday, then having Saturday and Sunday for our normal set-up leading into the game on Monday. Although we want to get back into it, a Monday night game after the international break isn’t too bad or too much of a hardship.
