Fonte: Let's make it a great week on the road

Saints have been staying up north since Tuesday, with the game against Stoke City in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday night, followed by Saturday’s fixture against the Tigers.

Having progressed to the quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup, Fonte is now determined to make it a very good week away for Saints by picking up all three points against Hull City.

Last season, Fonte scored the only goal of the game as Saints won 1-0 against Steve Bruce’s side, and he’d loved to find the net again. Speaking ahead of the game, he said: “I’ve maybe been trying too hard and I just need to let it happen naturally.

“Maybe it will happen tomorrow, but the most important thing is that we get the three points and we go home with a great week. It has been a long week for us.

“Obviously we travelled up on Tuesday and have stayed at St George’s Park. We have one more job to do [against Hull City] and then we can go back home.

“It is hard to be away from your family but we are here to do a job. When we go away we need to enjoy it, and make the group spirit stronger. This group is already united. It has been a great few days.

“It was good that we went to St George’s. We saved a lot of energy, we were able to rest and maybe on Saturday it will make the difference. That’s what we are hoping.”

Fonte has played a big part in leading Saints to second in the table with the best defensive record in the division, and he was disappointed to have conceded two goals against Stoke City on Wednesday.

The skipper is expecting a different sort of test from Hull City on Saturday and says Saints will have to be wary of the threat they pose going forward.

“I was disappointed with the way we conceded the goals. We could have done better. We have this proud defensive record in the league and we don’t want to concede,” he added.

“We had the game under control and we put ourselves in a difficult position. The referee was allowing their players to be too aggressive, but we got the win and we didn’t go to extra time so I was happy with that.

“Hull City away is always a tough one, we know that from experience. They are different to Stoke, they have very good footballers in midfield and upfront and they will present us with a different challenge.

“It will be physical, it will be intense, it’ll be a good game and we are ready for it, we are prepared and hopefully we can come up with a good result.”