Mark Hughes said his team made a statement with their performance in the goalless draw at Bournemouth.

Saints had the better chances and might well have won the game at the Vitality Stadium.

However, after recent troubles a positive performance and a clean sheet against an in-form team was a good result for Saints.

“I was pleased with the performance,” said Hughes, who sprung a selection surprise by pairing Jack Stephens and Wesley Hoedt together as centre halves for only the second time this season. “It was important to give a little bit more of a statement.

“We were all disappointed with what we were able to produce against Chelsea and it seems like it’s been a long time since that game and it was important we came back from the international break and showed what we were all about.

“I thought we were good in terms of what we tried to get out of the game.

“I thought the back four were really good and set the tone for us.

“A lot of the work we have done in the week three of the back four worked all week because they weren’t away on international duty and only Cedric was away, so we did some defensive work.

“Probably the selection of the back four was a little bit of a surprise to some of you guys but it was a reflection of the work that was done and it was important I recognised that and gave them the opportunity in the game and I thought they were excellent in terms of what we were trying to do and negated the threat Bournemouth have.

“They’ve got a lot of pace and power at the top end of the pitch and they found it very difficult to show that because of the way we approached the game.”

Speaking of the Hoedt and Stephens pairing, Hughes added: “Because we did a lot of defensive work and on our shape with those guys I felt I could have brought in different personnel but they wouldn’t have had the time and amount of sessions to really embed what we were trying to achieve.

“I thought it made total sense to go with the guys who have been here the last couple of weeks and they didn’t let me down.

“The back four allowed us to get a lot of more bodies around where the ball was and we were a lot more connected as a team.

“At times we have been a little bit stretched but I don’t think we saw any evidence of that and that was very pleasing.

“Clearly we did enough to win the game and had the chances, three or four really good, clear cut chances, which on another day you want to take.

“It was a really good performance, Bournemouth have been flying and a difficult place to come here because they always want momentum in their play and intensity and I think we managed the game really well.”