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Rusk on squad fitness, Stewart and Leicester City

Rusk on squad fitness, Stewart and Leicester City

BBC News01-05-2025

Simon Rusk has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game at Leicester City (kick-off 15:00).Here are the key lines from his news conference:On his squad's fitness: "Paul Onuachu has been training the last few days so he's back in the mix. We have a pretty clean bill of health at the moment."On their most recent game against Fulham: "Lots of really good things to build on. The first half we did really well to get ourselves ahead. It ended up a difficult one to take. But as I've spoken about, it's about making sure we find the balance of looking like a hard team to beat and having a footprint in the game. It was really nice to get a set-piece goal as well."On Ross Stewart, who made his first Southampton start in 203 days against Fulham: "I thought he did great. For how long he's been out, starting the game, and it was an intense game too. For him to get through it and be training again this week to try get in the starting team again on Saturday, what a great thing for him and a real positive from the day."On opponents Leicester: "They're a team that have some versatility to the way they play. Just like us, they will be drumming home that there's pride at stake. There's no easy Premier League games and although they may have had some difficult home form, they've picked up some decent results away from home. For us, it's about going in on the front foot and making sure we're in the best nick to beat our opponent."On if they would play a more attacking style against relegated opposition: "We have to be realistic about the situation I inherited. We've had some difficult results, we are bottom of the league, and we were never going to become solid and be dominant in the game. If we did that when I came in with seven games to go, I'd probably be able to bring world peace as well. I've had to pick a way for this team to play based on the evidence of the season."On Adam Lallana's future: "In terms of a playing decision, that's solely with him at the minute. Building up to this game he's on the coaching staff and that'll be a similar format this weekend as well."Follow all of Thursday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

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