Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl believes his side should be fully prepared ahead of their trip to Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, following two weeks of preparation.
Saints travelled to Tenerife for a training camp following their defeat to relegation rivals Cardiff a fortnight ago and Hasenhuttl revealed the time spent both on and off the training pitches while away has been very beneficial for the squad.
Hasenhuttl’s side could have moved five points clear of the relegation zone with a victory over Cardiff, but the Bluebirds scored a 93rd minute winner at St. Mary’s to leapfrog their opponents and push Saints into the relegation zone.
The Austrian does not want to focus on the defeat any longer, however, and revealed to the club’s official website that he was pleased with how the training camp went ahead of Sunday’s trip to Arsenal.
It’s a very interesting week in front of us, because we have very, very strong opponents, but we have worked very hard the last two weeks and tried to put this last game away – we don’t want to speak about it anymore and I think we are focused on the future, not looking back, and that’s the most important thing.
We took the time for working intensively on the pitch, but also in personal meetings. It was interesting. We had a lot of time with every player, listening to them and how they feel, what their opinion of the last month was and what is necessary for the future. I think we showed them what was good, what was not so good, what must be better and it was good that we had this time. Now we have in this next week three games. It is an intensive period, and to be flexible is important now. The first big step can be on the weekend.
Saints can do the double over Arsenal with victory at the Emirates on Sunday, and climb back above Cardiff following their 5-1 defeat to Watford on Friday night.
Hasenhuttl’s side then face another crucial game against fellow relegation strugglers Fulham, before two tricky tests against Manchester United and Tottenham respectively.
