Mark Hughes is very impressed by the performances from new signing Danny Ings since the start of the season.

Ings arrived at Southampton from Liverpool in search of regular first team football.

And while his deal is a loan, there is an option for the Saints to buy him permanently.

"He has come in and I think I have already said in previous weeks that my impression of him as a player was always a good one," Hughes said to Sky Sports on Ings.

"I always had a high regard for his abilities but when you work with them close-hand on a day-to-day basis you understand exactly the type of player they are and he has certainly surpassed my feelings in terms of his ability.

"He is a better player than I gave him credit for I have to say, so we've been really pleased. And that's with the caveat that actually he is not as fit as we know he can be as yet.

"He had a little bit of a fragmented pre-season with an injury before he joined us and had a really bad blister on his foot which has been curtailing his training time.

"So he really hasn't had solid weeks of training leading into games at this point but that will come and he's okay to play. Okay, this week ideally we would have liked him to play but it means that we can get good work into him during the time he is not available and this time next week he'll be raring to go again."