Mauricio Pellegrino has called on Saints to rally for the second half of the season.

The 1-1 draw with Huddersfield at St Mary’s marked the halfway point in the Premier League campaign, with Saints nervously looking over their shoulders just three points off of the bottom three.

With just four wins all season, and 11 matches already played at home, it looks like being a challenging second half of fixtures, but Pellegrino is trying to remain positive.

He said: “I think we are in the middle of the season and obviously we couldn’t show this consistency especially in results because we couldn’t win even those games we deserve to win and we create a lot of chances.

“Football is efficiency to score goals and to convert.

“Still we got 50 per cent of the tournament to bounce back and try to change this mood and it has to start on Tuesday.”

Pellegrino, whose side travel to Tottenham on Boxing Day, admitted he was disappointed with the result against Huddersfield, which was another decent chance for three points that slipped away.

“For sure because when we were really close to score the second one especially in the way we concede it was a pity,” he reflected.

“But for me it was a flat game, a lot of ball in the air and more than normal in the physical battle Huddersfield is a strong team.

“They press high, we press high and a lot of challenge.

“When we put the ball on the ground we made our most important moment, we create problems, but in crosses, set plays, this type of style in some moments we control well but in one they score.

“It’s part of football and in general it was a bit tight and we were close to score the second and you have to score the second earlier in this game.”