Jose's preview - Southampton

Jose Mourinho had a straightforward message ahead of our New Year’s Day trip to Southampton. “Stop the gifts and we can beat anyone.”

Both Jose and the players were left frustrated by our 2-2 draw at Norwich City on Saturday. We lost possession for Norwich’s opener in the first half and having drawn level after the break, conceded an own goal. Harry Kane’s late penalty secured a point but there was a feeling of an opportunity missed after our dominance in the second half.

Now we move on to St Mary’s, and a 3pm kick-off against a Southampton team unbeaten in three and with four wins and two draws in their last eight - including a 2-0 success against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day.

Jose said: “It’s another difficult match and I will repeat that every time, the same answer for every match - there is no easy match, and Southampton are in a good moment with some good results.

“They drew today (Saturday, against Palace), but their run of results is good, the players are good.

“It’s going to be difficult if we have more gifts for our opponents. If we stop gifts, we can beat anyone. The way we play when we have the ball, we can beat anyone. But we have to stop the gifts, if not, it will always be difficult to win matches.”