Hughes expects Southampton reaction after West Ham humbling

Mark Hughes is expecting a reaction from Southampton at Arsenal on Sunday, calling on his players to learn from the 3-0 defeat to West Ham last time out.

Former Stoke City boss Hughes was taking charge of his first Premier League game with Saints at London Stadium, but the visitors could not replicate their manager's debut FA Cup victory against Wigan Athletic a fortnight earlier.

Southampton remain two points adrift of safety in 18th ahead of a gruelling run of fixtures that includes Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City in the league before the end of the season.

But Hughes has told the squad what is expected of them and believes a good performance at Emirates Stadium is "the bare minimum".

"I expect a reaction from the team - I expect a good one," he told a pre-match news conference. "Unfortunately, we were poor [against West Ham] on the day and I think, among other things, that's an indication of how confidence is at the moment.

"We made key errors in the game which led to goals and we never really recovered from that. We need to be more resilient when momentum goes against us.

"West Ham is something we can learn from. We have gone through that with the guys and we know what is ahead of us in terms of Arsenal. You can't dwell too much on things like West Ham. You need to take the lessons and move on from it.

"I've told them this week what is acceptable in games and what isn't. We've got to go there and get a positive result. The bare minimum is a good performance for the travelling fans and to be positive in our outlook."

Having defeated Arsene Wenger's men with Stoke in August, Hughes is bidding to become the first manager to beat Arsenal twice in the same Premier League season with two different clubs.