Southampton boss Mark Hughes not worried by Claude Puel return

Wednesday 18 April 2018 23:12, UK

Mark Hughes does not believe Leicester boss Claude Puel will be on a revenge mission when he returns to face former club Southampton on Thursday.

Puel, sacked by Saints last summer, won 4-1 on his return to St Mary's in December and has another opportunity to heap even more misery on Saints when the two teams meet on Thursday.

Struggling Southampton are in serious danger of the drop and travel to the King Power Stadium five points adrift of safety.

Saints boss Hughes has lost three successive league games since his appointment last month and he hopes Puel's managerial history will not provide extra motivation for the Foxes.

Asked if Puel would be looking to avenge his dismissal, Hughes replied: "Perhaps he's already done that because he's come here and won on his first time back, he's won 4-1 so maybe he's got it out of his system and he's moved on.

"I would hope."

Frenchman Puel left Southampton following an eighth-placed finish and a League Cup final appearance.

Since then the south coast club have gone backwards.

They have won just five league games all season, leading to the sacking of Puel's replacement Mauricio Pellegrino and the arrival of former Stoke boss Hughes.

Hughes believes Puel is a talented coach and feels he may have been unfortunate to lose his previous job.

"I wasn't really paying close attention to what was going on here at that time because my focus then was at my previous club, but he finished the season in a high position," said Hughes.

"I wasn't privy to why the decision was made and I haven't asked the question since I've been here so I still don't know.

"Clearly he's an accomplished manager, he had a good season here in terms of league position and a number of people probably felt he was a little bit unlucky to lose his position here but that's without knowing the full story.

"He went to Leicester had an immediate impact and has done very well so clearly he's a talented manager."