Stephens: Fast start vital to promotion prospects
Jack Stephens admits there is a greater emphasis on a fast start to the season when Southampton kick off their Sky Bet Championship campaign at Watford in two weeks’ time.
Saints will begin the new season looking to extend a run of 21 league matches unbeaten that began way back in January and propelled the team from 15th in the table to the play-off final in the space of four months.
Continuing where they left off is even more important to Stephens and co. given Saints have been handed a four-point deduction – a gap they are determined to bridge as quickly as possible.
The skipper says he expects to feel like “villains” when Saints’ pursuit of promotion resumes at Vicarage Road on Sunday 16th August (1.30pm BST), but insists the players are up for the fight.
“I can’t wait. I can’t wait for the league games to start. It’s always the exciting part – you want to get off to a good start, and obviously for us this year it’s even more important to start well,” he said.
“We’ve spoken about that as a group, we know the importance of it, and we’re just desperate to carry on where we left off last season.
“I think it’s going to be a slightly different feeling when we go to away grounds. We’re probably going to be the villains and a lot of people are going to be against us.”
Saints, who face German third-tier side SC Preußen Münster in their final pre-season friendly on Saturday (2pm BST), will be backed by a sold-out away section at Watford, with more than 2,300 travelling fans snapping up tickets within days of going on sale.
“It’s vitally important that we stick together as a whole club,” Stephens continued. “The fans last season were incredible, the way they stuck with us after the tough start and almost carried us through a lot of the moments during that season, and we as a group are so grateful for that.
“It’s important for us that we show that we’re ready to start well, and we show them that we mean business this year.
“It’s amazing support. This football club is just incredible to be a part of; the fans have been outstanding and I’m sure they’ll continue to be like that.
“With the points deduction it’s going to be difficult, but we’ve gone through things as a group and we understand the importance of it.
“We know that if we start well we can really build momentum like we did last year, and we’re confident that we can achieve what we deserved to achieve last year.”
Saints' final pre-season friendly sees Tonda Eckert's side take on SC Preußen Münster in Germany on Saturday (2pm BST). The game will be broadcast live on Saints Play.
