Claude Puel has urged his Southampton players to forget about their EFL Cup final against Manchester United and focus on Saturday's Premier League fixture at Sunderland.
Against the team that is bottom of the league but threatening a revival, Southampton hope to avoid equalling their worst ever top flight run of seven defeats from eight games, as they last did in 1998/99.
Unlike then, they appear at little risk of relegation, but Puel is concerned their glamorous fixture at Wembley on February 26 could distract them.
"The game, seriously, I don't think anything about the final," said the 55-year-old, according to the Southampton Daily Echo.