We won’t lie down, warns Hughes

Stoke manager Mark Hughes has warned Southampton counterpart Ronald Koeman to expect a far rougher ride this weekend compared to their recent stroll against Sunderland.

The Saints head into their latest Premier League clash with Stoke today on a high after hammering the woeful Wearsiders 8-0 last Saturday.

On the back of a run of five wins in their last six league matches, Koeman’s side are a heady third in the table and will no doubt be confident of adding Stoke to their recent list of scalps.

Hughes, though, has no doubt his side will give Southampton more of a run for their money, even though they were beaten 3-1 by Sunderland themselves just three weeks ago.

“It was an outstanding result,” said Hughes of Southampton’s win over the Black Cats.

“It doesn’t matter at what level you play. To beat another team 8-0 is an outstanding performance.

“We go there with them on an obvious high given the performance and result, but we’re in a confident mood ourselves.

“We won last time out, so we’d like to think we’ll make a better fist of it — should I suggest.

“We’ll recognise the talent and ability they have in their squad, but we’ve plenty of that ourselves, so they know it will be a difficult game for them.

“It’s up to us to make sure (the win over Sunderland) was a one-off performance and result, and is not something that will influence our game.”

Hughes feels after the early-season blip the critics were too hasty to write off his own team, adding: “As a consequence of losing our first two home games people assumed we’d had a really poor start, which wasn’t really the case.

“We’ve done okay, and now we’ve had back-to-back home wins which have really encouraged us.

“So we’re quite happy with where we are at the moment.”