Kyle Walker-Peters is one of the most experienced players for Southampton, and the 27-year-old is among the best defenders who have played for the Saints in recent seasons. Since arriving at the St. Mary's Stadium from Tottenham Hotspurs in a £12 million transfer move, the England international has gone strength to strength while establishing himself as an integral part of the Southampton defence.
When the Saints were relegated last year, Walker-Peters was one of the few first-team players who decided to help Southampton to return to the English top flight. With 11 clean-sheets and 6 goal contributions in the previous Championship campaign, the former Tottenham Hotspurs academy graduate was linked with a transfer move to return to his former club as well.
£12 million regular starter believes Saints can again make a come-back
However, Walker-Peters stayed at Southampton and has thrived in various defensive positions such as left-back, right-back and even as a centre-back under manager Russell Martin. Despite entering into the final year of his Southampton contract, the versatile fullback is fully focused on the ongoing Premier League season.
Although a first Premier League win has eluded Southampton so far, Walker-Peters believes that the Saints can again make a come-back this season to avoid relegation, saying,
"We've actually spoken about that period where we went four games beaten and we spoke about how we bounced back from that.Kyle Walker-Peters
I think that's in everyone's minds, everyone's aware that once we do get that first win, we should be flying."
Last season, Southampton were among the favourites alongside Leicester City and Leeds United to achieve promotion to the Premier League, but faced four consecutive defeats after the first four Championship matches. That included a huge 5-0 away defeat against Sunderland and a massive 4-1 defeat at home against Southampton.
At that time, several Southampton fans were unconvinced by new manager Russell Martin's tactics but he guided the Saints to go on a 21-match unbeaten streak in the Championship that built the foundation for Southampton to finish inside the top-six position. Later, the Saints also kept two clean-sheets in the Championship playoffs to successfully achieve promotion to the Premier League alongside Leicester City and Ipswich Town.
Hence, Walker-Peters highlighted that Southampton need an important momentum boost and find their first league win, which will help them to return to winning ways in the Premier League. Russell Martin's side have a good balance between experience and young talents and thus, would want to take inspiration from the recent Manchester City match in order to register important wins over Wolves and Everton in the upcoming league fixtures.