Mark Hughes praises Southampton

Stoke City boss Mark Hughes has spoken highly of Southampton ahead of this afternoon's clash at the Britannia Stadium.

The Saints have made a promising start to the Premier League campaign, picking up 18 points from the 27 available to sit fifth in the table.

Hughes believes that his opposite number Mauricio Pochettino has his team well drilled, while also benefiting from sizable investment in the likes of Dejan Lovren, Victor Wanyama and Pablo Daniel Osvaldo.

"We're facing a good team," the 50-year-old told reporters. "Southampton have had a great start and are on a good run of form, and you can see why, because they work exceptionally hard and make it difficult to play your own game.

"They have a certain way of playing and what's happening is all the players are committing to what they're trying to achieve in each game, and it's working.

"They've got good players, they invested a lot of money in the summer. Credit to them."

The Potters are currently 17th in the league table, level on points with Norwich City one place below them.