Every word Southampton manager Martin said ahead of Sunderland

Happy to get the game on after the events of Wednesday?

RM: Everyone was quite confident the game would go ahead this weekend. 

It was quite a strange day, Wednesday. We got told about it in the afternoon and could see the smoke as you drove into the city. 

We understood then it was a big risk and thankfully nobody was hurt, which is my understanding, and that's the most important thing. 

It is a big event with a lot of damage but I think the operations team and everyone else have rallied around to get the game on.

Everyone is safe and now we have a game of football to focus on and hopefully enjoy. It was a strange day with the game being cancelled.

The smoke was still there with the fire engines putting stuff out as we drove into training the following morning as well.

I have never known anything like it really but thankfully everyone is okay and we can move forward with a game.

Is the added fixture pile-up as a result of postponements bad news?

RM: I don't know if it will be positive or negative. We won't know until the end of the season.

We are in the midst of a really relentless period and now we have to face another one from the end of March and April. 

I don't know if it will be good or bad but it's not ideal that we will look at the league and teams will have played two more games than us.

It is something we will have to deal with psychologically and just ignore it a bit really. We focus on ourselves and that will remain the case.

I would have loved the game to be on against Preston on Saturday but we now have had a bit more of a break.

Thursday felt like our first proper training day for a long time and now we have a game to be excited about.

Do you think it could put a dent in your automatic promotion hopes?

RM: We will have to wait and see. It won't be used as an excuse.

It's not ideal but it is what it is and we have to deal with it. It was completely out of our control.

We now have a really long period without a game on Saturday and we will try to utilise that as much as we can. 

Maybe we will look back and think it was actually a good thing for us to get some rest into some players and real work in others. 

We have nailed down and drilled into some stuff we think will be really important for the run-in so maybe it gives us a bit more freshness.

I honestly don't know - I am not sitting here seeing it as a real negative right now, we just have to deal with it.

Chance to get some revenge for the Sunderland game? 

RM: A few people have told me that and it was probably the worst day we have had together. 

It was a long afternoon, they were good and we were in a completely different place to where we are now. 

Do I feel anymore or want to win anymore - no, I want to win every game. But the feeling we had up there is an important one. 

I have spoken to the players about it as we should still feel hurt by that and use it to make sure we don't feel that again. 

Will Kyle Walker-Peters be involved? 

RM: Not for tomorrow. We have an extended break after this one and he will be back for the next one.

We may have gotten away with it but there was no point in risking him for this one. We want him back for the rest of the run-in. So he will be out for tomorrow.

The guys coped well without him last weekend. He is a loss because he’s a fantastic player but we have a lot of brilliant players who are ready to come in.

Leicester are going to be charged with a breach of P&S and face a potential points deduction that might not come in until next season - any thoughts? 

RM: I have no feeling towards it as I don't understand the situation and it's the first I have heard about it now. 

If I had a detailed understanding I would give you an answer, I think you know that, but I don't.

We focus on what we do here and how we do it. What other people do is up to them and it's the first I have heard of it genuinely. 

I might go and find out more about it now and have a strong opinion but for now it is what it is and I don't know how it will affect things. 

Sunderland have lost nine away but eight by one goal, will they be hard to beat? 

RM: They played really well on Tuesday and will consider themselves unfortunate not to get a point against Leicester. 

They are good, young team and their coach has been there for a while now through a few different managers so he knows the team. 

He has real clarity on what they are doing and they are really well organised with some talented individuals. 

It is no different to a lot of the teams in this division, they all have different qualities and one of Sunderland's is their energy and willingness to run. 

They tend to be in every game and it is always very close. I have a lot of respect for what they do, they were good against us earlier in the season. 

The challenge for us is always to be the team we want and especially at home. I am looking forward to the game. 

They are a team that go away and want to impose themselves on the game, they don't change what they do and I think that's a brilliant challenge.