Restored to the starting XI following the injury to Marcos Senesi, Welsh international Mepham put in an assured performance at centre-half to help Cherries defeat the Foxes at the King Power on Saturday. After being omitted from the squad for the fixtures directly preceding the trip to Leicester, a win over Fulham and defeat to Brighton, the former Brentford man seamlessly slotted back into the side. Discussing the result with BBC Radio Solent,
Chris Mepham began: “It’s a massive win. Although we lost last game, I think we’re in a good place at the minute. I think even against Brighton, we caused them some problems, probably not as much as what we would have wanted. Coming here today, we know it’s a massive game and it was important that we were at our 100 per cent best to get anything from the game. And I thought from minute one, we stamped our authority. I thought first half especially, we controlled the game, I thought it was in complete control. And then second half, we knew they were going to come out with a reaction and it was just a case of, could we sustain that pressure and limit them to a few chances. And I thought we’d done that very well. I think any game’s obviously important, but when you’re playing teams around you, there’s a lot of people that see them as six pointers. It is important and like I said, I think we can enjoy this week. I thought we worked really hard (against Leicester) and now we just need to make sure we keep our foot on the pedal and go again next Saturday.”
A peripheral figure under Scott Parker in the Championship last term, Mepham re-established himself as a first-team regular before again losing his spot to Jack Stephens following the break for the World Cup in November. Asked about the challenges of being thrown straight back into the thick of it following a spell out of the team,
Chris Mepham replied: “It’s tough. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions, and mentally, it’s tough to go from sat in the stands to starting a game. But I think one thing I’ve learned from this when I’ve been here before is that it’s so important just to stay ready. I think you drop your standards in training, it will show in the match when you do get called upon. So I think the way I’ve gone about it and the way I’ve trained since being left out of squads, I think it’s given me an opportunity to, one, be in the squad and two, do well when I’m called upon. And I think it’s important that everyone sees it like that, however frustrating it is.”
