Wednesday’s EFL Cup tie at Southampton is far from a distraction according to Sunderland boss David Moyes, who has set his sights on victory at St Mary’s.
A first Premier League win continues to elude the Black Cats who were denied a point in cruel circumstances against West Ham United on Saturday, but Moyes has seen encouraging signs from his team and a steady improvement.
Southampton, meanwhile, have been in scintillating form losing just one of their last nine games in all competitions, with their last outing ending in a 1-1 draw against Manchester City.
But the Black Cats will travel to the south coast full of optimism, with the Sunderland boss declaring the Lads are in it to win it.
“No I don't think so, I think this is a game we could do with,” said Moyes when asked if this was a game the Black Cats could do without. “I think it’s another game to show that we’re improving and another game to show that we’re doing better, and we have been slightly.
“If I was sitting here today with a 0-0 we could have said it was a good point at West Ham – we’re not and we would love to be – but had we got it we would be saying we deserved it because of the way we played and stuck at it.”
He continued: “We go to Southampton, who are playing very well, and we know it’ll be a task to get a result, but we drew there earlier on and if we do that we get extra-time and penalties.
“You want to get through and you would love to go and win it, so we will try to do the same with this one.
“We want to get to the next round.”