Ben Davies: 'Good pre-season will help us start well'

Ben Davies is already eagerly anticipating our summer tour of the USA, insisting the trip will serve us well as we bid to start the new campaign firing on all cylinders.

We jet off across the Atlantic on July 19 ahead of our first International Champions Cup match against Paris Saint-Germain in Orlando in the early hours of July 23, UK time.

Next up it’s Roma in Harrison, New Jersey, in the early hours of July 26, before we round off the tour against Premier League rivals Manchester City in Nashville on July 29.

Left-back Ben is pleased with the standard of competition on the tour, something he believes will work to our advantage with the players keen on hitting their stride early on in the 2017-18 campaign.

“We’ve got some good fixtures out there (in America) and it’s up to us to keep ourselves fit and get fully ready for them,” said the Welsh international, who enjoyed an extended run in the starting XI during the second half of last term.

“We don’t want to come back in and have a slow start to the season – we want to come in raring to go and pick up as many points as we can early-doors. A good pre-season will help us to do that.”

Additionally, Ben wants to see a continuation of the mental strength shown by the players last season when we kick-off again in August.

“We’re really determined to win games and I think the way we go into every single match, we don’t have any fear, whoever we’re against,” he said.

“Even if our backs are against the wall, we’ve turned games around and performed well in those matches and it’s the sign of a good side when you can pick up points when sometimes you don’t play so well. I think we’ve done that in a couple of games over the last year and it’s important that we’re fully focused at all times again next season.”