Eckert: Cup run has only helped promotion push

Saints have faced a gruelling schedule in recent weeks, battling on two fronts, but the head coach insists his side’s run to the last four of the Emirates FA Cup has only improved their league form.

The results support his view, with Saints heading into Saturday’s semi-final with Manchester City 20 matches unbeaten in all competitions, including a recent eight-match winning streak, with Saints’ belief fuelled by victories over Fulham in the fifth round and Arsenal in the quarter-finals.

“I thought that we had rewritten that story over the last weeks,” Eckert said, when asked if Saints’ cup exploits could be seen as a distraction. “It’s quite clear that the cup has also helped us to perform in the league – I think it’s that way around.

“Obviously you do find belief by winning games in the Championship, but you find even more belief if you see that you can compete with teams in the Premier League. I think that’s very normal – it’s true for the players, as it is for the staff and everyone who works around the team.

“I think it’s not that one is in the way of the other. If you see what it means to the football club, if you see how many supporters are going to be travelling with us to Wembley, I don’t see how this is in the way of anything.”

Eckert pointed to defending their box, sustained spells of possession and hurting City on the counter-attack as three key areas that Saints must get right if they are to reach their first FA Cup final since 2003, and stay on course to replicate the club’s cup-winning heroes of 1976, 50 years on.

“It’s the same as we’ve needed against many teams that we’ve come up against over the last weeks: you will have some periods where you need to suffer and accept that you may not touch the ball for a minute, and just stay calm in those moments,” Eckert explained.

“If you see where City score their goals, I think most of them are within the width of the six-yard box and most of them are inside the 18-yard box, so there might be some moments where you just need to defend inside your box and be very clear on how to do that.

“On the other hand I think there are more than enough chances – we’re definitely going to have a couple of transition moments and we need to be crucial on the ones that they give to us, because it’s not going to be too many.

“At the same time you can’t rely only on defending in these games, so we need to be brave enough and find another gear, and the energy so that when we do have the ball, we have spells in possession.

“I think we have found quite a good combination of both of these aspects against Arsenal, and they will be the key again on Saturday.”