Yoshida relishing life at Southampton

Southampton defender Maya Yoshida insists he is relishing life in the Premier League despite suffering a nightmare debut against Arsenal. Yoshida was thrown in at the deep end at Arsenal last weekend when the Japan international came on as a 28th minute substitute for the injured Jos Hooiveld after just one training session with his new team-mates. The 24-year-old, who arrived from Dutch club VVV Venlo in £2 million (2.5million euros) deal just before last month's transfer deadline, found it hard to cope against Arsenal's talented attacking line-up and he was at fault for one of the goals as the Gunners romped to a 6-1 victory. Although that was a chastening introduction to English football, Yoshida is confident he will quickly put it behind him. Hooiveld's injury means Yoshida, who captained Japan to fourth place at the Olympics, is likely to get a chance to nail down a first-team place quicker than he expected. "In the first half (against Arsenal), I played not so good especially as the third goal was my mistake," he said. "The second half I began to show my skills of bringing it from the back and I have confidence that I can play in the Premier League. "It was a challenging game for me to play against Arsenal because they are a very big team. "I was not satisfied but I could enjoy the game against Arsenal because the Emirates is a great stadium and the opponents were very strong." Yoshida has managed to settle into his new surroundings with relative ease thanks to the presence at Southampton of Japan team-mate Tadanari Lee. He spoke to Lee about all aspects of life in England before making the move from Venlo and has found little to trouble him so far off the pitch. But there is still one thing Yoshida hasn't summoned up the courage to try just yet -- the traditional English dish of fish and chips. "I asked him (Lee) many things about the club, city and culture," Yoshida added. "He said the team was very good, it was a traditional club and the organisation was very good. "He said life was very nice here. You live by the sea and the food is not so bad. I've not tried fish and chips yet but I think I will do it."