Fonte emphasises home form ahead of European campaign

Southampton captain Jose Fonte expects the team to have learnt the lessons from their early Europa League exit last year when they start their new campaign on Thursday.

A 1-0 defeat away at FC Midtjylland in Denmark last August saw the Saints lose 2-1 on aggregate and get knocked out of the competition before the group stages.

This time round they’ve qualified for the group stages directly with a sixth-place finish in the Premier League and face Inter Milan, Sparta Prague and Hapoel Beer Sheva in Group K.

The Saints take on the Sparta Prague at St Mary’s on Thursday and Fonte believes his side must win their home games if they’re to progress through to the knock-out stages.

“The players are looking forward to doing better than last year,” he said.

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“Hopefully we can do a much better job. Obviously with the experience we got last year, being knocked out the way we did, we know we cannot make mistakes and every game counts.

“We look forward to maximising our games and getting points we need to go to the knock out stages. In every competition home form is very important; you need to win your home games.

“We want to improve on last year, we want to go into the knock outs. Everyone is excited to start this competition.”