Fernandes: 'I want to win for the whole of Southampton. We need wins'

MIDFIELDER Mateus Fernandes insisted he wants to win "for the whole city" of Southampton after scoring his first Premier League goal.

Fernandes, 20, became the 50th Portuguese player to score in the Premier League when he gave Saints the lead over Liverpool on Sunday.

The summer signing capped off a brilliant counter-attack move which saw fellow starlet Tyler Dibling pick out Adam Armstrong, who in turn laid across for Fernandes.

A brace from Mo Salah saw the league leaders turn the game around once more to win 3-2 after Armstrong and Fernandes had given Saints a 2-1 lead.

Russell Martin and club captain Jack Stephens praised Fernandes following his impressive performance against Arne Slot's side.

The former Sporting man won more defensive duels than any Saints player and completed 100 per cent of his passes into the final third.

READ MORE: Dibling and Fernandes will make difference for Southampton

“We need to fight every minute of every game," said Fernandes. "We play football in our way. I’m very happy to score (my first Premier League goal). We believe in our style of football.

“But it’s hard to not win against Liverpool. We lost in the last minutes again. We need to be focused until the end. Now we have to focus on recovery and prepare for the next game.

“I very much like the atmosphere of the stadium, I like the city very well. I enjoy every day here, my family too. I just want to win for the fans and the whole city.

“It’s hard to play against Liverpool. I think we played well, we fought well but we need points. We need wins. We will train for that.”