Moussa on resurgent Saints

There is no need to tell Moussa Sissoko about Southampton’s recent resurgence in the Premier League – he is already well aware of the Saints’ revival.

Speaking to us after the team put in their final preparations for this afternoon's clash at St Mary's (3pm kick-off), the midfielder gave his thoughts on our hosts' impressive form of late and the challenge he expects we will face today.

They may have struggled in the first quarter of the season, but over the last six weeks, the men in red and white have put together a strong run of results. Four wins in their last seven, three games unbeaten in the Premier League and now four points clear of the relegation zone – Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team are a side in form.

We saw exactly what they are capable of back in September when we faced them in N17. We may have taken all three points on that day with a 2-1 win, but we were forced to battle right until the last seconds of the game to make sure we took all three points.

And, in our last visit to St Mary’s in March last season, Hasenhuttl’s side did get the better of us with a 2-1 win of their own - a frustrating day in Hampshire that Moussa is determined to avoid this time around.

“They haven’t lost in their last three games, so they are doing very well at the moment,” the French international explained. “We know Southampton is a team that is always difficult to play against, we lost at St Mary’s last season and when we faced them earlier in this campaign, even though we managed to get the win, they still made it a very tough game.

“We have to be ready for them as they are in a good period, but if we want to finish in the top four – that is our target – it doesn’t matter who we play, we just have to play well and go to win the game.

“It won’t be an easy one but if we are focussed and ready mentally to fight for each other from the first minute to the last we can get a great result. In our squad we have some unbelievable players with a lot of quality – we just need to fight for the win together and bring back the three points.”