Claude Puel: 'Southampton must now look forward'

Claude Puel has urged his Southampton players to put their EFL Cup heartbreak to one side and finish the Premier League season on a high.

The Saints fell to an unfortunate 3-2 loss to Manchester United in last Sunday's showpiece final at Wembley Stadium, battling back from two goals down but falling to a late Zlatan Ibrahimovic header.

Puel must now prepare his side for this weekend's meeting with Watford at Vicarage Road, knowing that three points in the capital could potentially lift the club into ninth place in the division.

"Our performance [at Wembley] showed the quality we can put on the pitch and what we can do against a great team," he told reporters. "We need to look forward, not backwards. This is a good game for that. This game against Watford is very important for us, to move up in the table.

"[The morale] is better than straight after the game. It was a strong game from us, with quality and character. We had all of the right ingredients for a final, the support from the fans was fantastic, but it was a bad result.

"After the first disappointment, also now we have satisfaction to see our performance, which showed the quality we can put out on the pitch. We have to keep that confidence for Watford."

Southampton, who have no fresh injury concerns for Saturday afternoon's match, have lost six of their last eight top-flight outings.