It's rookie against rookie tonight when Bryan Gunn faces up to new Saints boss Mark Wotte - and the City man is determined not to get bitten by the "new manager" bug.

It's rookie against rookie tonight when Bryan Gunn faces up to new Saints boss Mark Wotte - and the City man is determined not to get bitten by the "new manager" bug.

City were inspired in a 4-0 hammering of Barnsley when Gunn took over as interim manager, and knows the effect a change can have - but will be telling his players to buck the trend when Wotte, who replaced the departed Jan Poortvliet on Friday, brings his team to town.

"We will focus on our game," he said. "Like last weekend, what happened for us, there was a change and there was a reaction from the players. That's completely out of our hands. We have got to be conscious of that when we send our team out that they might be raising their game because they've got people to impress, but from our point of view I think us being the home team and with the backing of our fans we have got to make our impression on the game straight away.

"Whatever Southampton do we will combat it. Hopefully the quality we have got will see us get through and get the important points."