Morgan Schneiderlin is adamant Saints’ 6-1 humiliation at Arsenal earlier this season has helped the team become mentally stronger.
Nigel Adkins’ side were ruthlessly exposed at the Emirates Stadium in September by a “perfect” Gunners performance.
Saints left north London rooted to the bottom of the table, having conceded 14 goals in their opening four matches – all defeats.
It marked the low point of a painful introduction to the Premier League, and appeared to have the potential to leave some damaging scars.
But Schneiderlin insisted the players were made stronger by the experience.
“We completely forget about it,” said Schneiderlin of the 6-1 defeat. “Twenty four hours after the game it was forgotten, and I think that helped us to be mentally stronger, because it was a tough day there.”
Saints certainly now appear to boast a far greater degree of fortitude and confidence than they did just over three months ago.
With that in mind, Schneiderlin has promised that they will present Arsene Wenger’s in-form side with a much greater test when the clubs meet at St Mary’s this evening.
“Everything they did was perfect, so now we want to bounce back and show them it was just a mistake from us,” the French midfielder said.
“We want to show them what we really can do and hopefully we can win this game.
“That’s how we can survive in this league is to win games at home.”
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