John O'Shea: “I enjoyed working with Martin and he would have been fairly confident of keeping Sunderland up but that was one of those things that happens in football.
“But he has a chance now.
"The chance to manage a country does not pop around that often so he is energised again and hopefully that will be transmitted to the players.
"He looked lifted on the TV this week.
"As well as the knowledge and characters they are, Martin and Roy are two very funny guys and they have that determination to succeed.
"If they bring that into the squad we’ll be going in the right direction.
“In terms of their winning mentality, drive, hunger and motivation – all those things are needed for us to get going again for qualifying for tournaments.
“It’s going to be really exciting and everybody should be looking forward to it – the supporters, the players and the media. I think the football public in Ireland will really get behind it.”
Saturday February 8
12:45 Liverpool v Arsenal
15:00 Aston Villa v West Ham United
15:00 Chelsea v Newcastle United
15:00 Crystal Palace v West Brom
15:00 Norwich City v Manchester City
15:00 Southampton v Stoke City
15:00 Sunderland v Hull City
17:30 Swansea City v Cardiff City
Sunday February 9
13:30 Tottenham v Everton
16:00 Man Utd v Fulham
Tuesday February 11
19:45 Cardiff City v Aston Villa
19:45 Hull City v Southampton
19:45 West Ham United v Norwich City
20:00 West Brom v Chelsea
Wednesday February 12
19:45 Arsenal v Man Utd
19:45 Everton v Crystal Palace
19:45 Manchester City v Sunderland
19:45 Newcastle United v Tottenham
19:45 Stoke City v Swansea City
20:00 Fulham v Liverpool