BOURNEMOUTH captain Steve Cook described Saints as “such a good team”, adding: “We’ve got to show them a lot of respect.”
Steve Cook said: “We’re going to need more than we showed against Swansea. I’ve got to be honest, Southampton have been on a real difficult run of late, but I think they’re such a good team.They work extremely hard, they’ve got very good players across the pitch. So we’ve got to show them a lot of respect, but we’ve got to match their hard work and then if we’ve got the quality, like we did on Tuesday, that’s the difference. I think they (Saints) are big favourites. But I think form and everything goes out the window in the FA Cup. You’ve seen year after year upsets. It would be a huge upset if we managed to beat Southampton at the weekend, but we’re going to really enjoy the occasion.”
Last time Saints faced Cherries, they put a huge dent in their hopes of avoiding relegation from the Premier League. Goals from Danny Ings and Che Adams sealed a 2-0 win for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men in July. Cherries have seen a lot of change in personnel among their squad, but a handful of players who played that day are again expected to feature at the weekend, including centre-back Cook.
Steve Cook added: “It was a long time ago. It’s totally different teams now, obviously different leagues. Yes, we lost to Saints last year, but I wouldn’t say that game put us down. We were struggling before that. But for the players that are here from last year, yeah maybe we’ve got something to prove. But it’s an FA Cup quarter-final and it’s a platform for us there, can we go and take it and upset the odds?”
