David Moyes
What is the latest team news?
Pretty good, we’ve got a couple of illnesses here and there and a couple of odd injuries. Emerson has got a bit of sickness, Aguerd came back with a bit of a grumbly hip and Scamacca’s got a sore knee. We’ll need to see how they are in the next few days.
How important is the game against Southampton for the rest of the season and the run-in?
Really important but I suppose you know we’ll have been put in the same category when we played Everton a few weeks ago, we had to play Nottingham Forest a few weeks ago, we’ve played Aston Villa since then, so very similar to those games. To be honest, every game is hugely important, so picking up three points would be great if we could do so. All of the games in the Premier League are so tough.
How many points do you think are going to be needed to stay up this season?
Well, I’ve not worked it out, but I’m looking to see that there’s nine or ten teams who could be involved in the bottom end of the table.. We are one of them, unfortunately, we hoped that we wouldn’t be, but we are. We have to find a way of making sure that we’re safe come the end of the season and I’m sure we will be.
How important will the fans be in the run-in?
I think if ever we’ve need it, it’s coming up to the period. We’ve got a lot of home games coming up. We’ve got nine games in April, it’s going to take a lot for the players, anything the supporters can give will certainly add to hopefully, the performance and the effort the players will put in.
Do you think your players are ready to go in these big games?
Yes, I do, I think the players are ready. I think we’re in a good frame of mind and we’re ready to go and hopefully, go on and try and pick up the points to make sure that we’re not near the bottom end of the league.
What is the key to beating Southampton?
We’ve got to score goals and not concede any. It’s simple. Concentrate on winning the game, the most important thing is to win the game. How we do that in many ways doesn’t matter. We’ve got to get those wins under our belt. We are in a really important stage of the season, lots of games, a difficult set of fixtures, three games in six days. We have to get everything we can from them.
How do you go about trying to stop James Ward-Prowse having an influence?
I don’t know enough about James Ward Prowse except for what I see. You are probably better off asking the Southampton manager about him. Obviously we’ll prepare our team to try to put Southampton under pressure. What I do know about James Ward Prowse is he’s a really good footballer and incredibly good set-piece taker, and by all accounts a really good lad as well. But I’m more interested in how we perform.
Do you hope you can take the positives out of your results in Europe into this game?
Our results in Europe have been really, really good. 10 unbeaten, and that kept us going a little bit, kept the belief. We’re certainly not acting behind the scenes that we are a team in the wrong part of the league. I see the players around the club in good spirits and that’s partly because of our results in Europe.
In your years as a Premier League manager, has there been a tighter relegation battle than the one this season?
I think quite often teams have broken away and not so many teams are fighting it out. In the Premier League there’s very little difference among a lot of the teams. Of course we’ve got two or three outstanding teams at the top but maybe after that not a great deal between the teams. If you get some wins early in the season you feel better, we didn’t and now we’re playing catch-up.
Do you see a different mind-set in your players for this game?
I’ve only had them back one day. I couldn’t give you an answer on that.
