Hughes: We'll take the positives

Despite being dominant for most of the contest, ten-man Southampton were undone by a stoppage time Harry Maguire goal following Pierre-Emile Højbjerg’s dismissal.

And while that was hard to take, Hughes was keen to highlight the positive performance moving forward.

“I think anybody who was here and saw the game in its entirety will view the game with as many positives as you can take out of a defeat, which isn’t easy to take,” Hughes said.

“For me as the manager of that group, I was encouraged by what we produced and it shows the potential in the group.

“We made a few changes and brought people in to get them an understanding. The likes of Moi Elyounoussi, who I thought was excellent and Shane Long who was superb all day long.

“Right through the team you can pick out players who had outstanding games. Mario and Pierre were excellent so all in all it was solid performance but unfortunately we’ve not managed to get a result.”