FAC: Wigan v Southampton preview

Wigan v Southampton preview

Mark Hughes will take charge of his first game as Southampton manager on Sunday when the Saints travel to Wigan in the FA Cup quarter-finals.

The Welshman was appointed as Mauricio Pellegrino's replacement on Wednesday, and his first task will be to navigate past the Sky Bet League One side - who knocked out Manchester City in the last round.

Hughes says he is only looking at the short-term goals at the club after signing a deal until the end of the season, and hopes that it can keep the team focused.

 

"I'd like to think that if we do the job here and we fulfil our remit then maybe there would be discussions about that [a longer deal], but that's not any pressure I am trying to put on anyone else," he said.

 

"I just think that will be a consequence of whether or not we're successful in this short period so I'm not concentrating on that. It's just about the here and now and getting on with the job in hand."

 

Alongside the scalp of Man City, Wigan have also seen off other Premier League opposition in Bournemouth and West Ham, and manager Paul Cook thinks the Latics are being shown too much respect ahead of their FA Cup quarter-final.

"One of my pals texted me yesterday to say, 'I won't be able to come across for this one but I'll get to the semi-final'. And I just looked at the text as if to say, 'What planet is he on?'," he said.

 

"When you've knocked teams out like we have, there is a little bit of that. It's like people aren't disrespecting us enough now and respecting Southampton enough.

"In our dressing room we're fully aware what we're about to engage with. We've had a great cup run... and now we go into a game on Sunday where people are actually saying to us it's a 50-50 game. And as a manager, and a football fan for a long time, I don't see it as a 50-50 game. I'd love to tell everyone I do, but I don't see it as that at all."

 

Hughes will only have two players unavailable for the trip to the DW Stadium, with Steven Davis and Charlie Austin both remaining sidelined.

Davis has not played in five weeks due to injury while striker Austin has been out of action since December with a hamstring strain.

 

Wigan will be without influential forward Nick Powell, who sustained a hamstring injury in the league victory over Bradford on Wednesday.

But in Will Grigg they have the competition's leading scorer with seven goals already, including the winner against City in the last round.