There are examples all over the Saints team of the Ralph Hasenhuttl effect – and none are more striking than James Ward-Prowse.

While there has been much talk of Hasenhuttl wanting to promote ‘young’ talent, several of the players on the radar have been only two or three years younger than 24-year-old Ward-Prowse, who is already heading towards 250 games for Saints.

Despite his eight seasons of first team experience and his England cap, Ward-Prowse’s position has never looked as secure, his game so well rounded, as it does under Hasenhuttl.

Ever since he was an up and coming kid, the question has not been around his ability, but rather how you fit him into the side.

His delivery from wide areas suggested he could play in a 4-4-2, but that formation is out of fashion, he doesn’t have the pace those positions demand in the modern-day Premier League, plus you have to have a high quality targetman, of which few exist nowadays.

It has also been felt by successive managers that he doesn’t quite have the extra bit required to play as a number ten.

And, for central midfield, the argument has been that he is simply not physically strong enough to add a rough and tough ball winning element to compliment his passing range.

That was pre-Hasenhuttl.

In his one-to-one meeting with Ward-Prowse, Hasenhuttl made clear his admiration for his talent, but also his demand for a stronger player if he was to get a chance in the central midfield berth that Ward-Prowse himself has felt his best role.

Ward-Prowse has responded with gusto, in the same way Morgan Schneiderlin did when Alan Pardew challenged him a similar way.

He has come back with a determination to get stuck in and do the dirty things well. And when he does that his natural ability elevates him to another level.

Suddenly, and really for the first time, he seems to have a home in the team, a natural position to call his own and continue to compete for. Finally, this might be his time to become a first name on the teamsheet type of regular.

Hasenhuttl’s mixture of positivity and a downright uncompromising approach have been just what Saints needed.

His revival of Oriol Romeu and Jan Bednarek has also been key, and the way Saints fought again against Everton was to be applauded.

While there has been a lot of time bemoaning bad luck in recent times, there was proof again that you can make your own.

Some might say the fortune of the ludicrous Lucas Digne own goal would never have happened before Hasenhuttl. That might be correct, but it potentially overlooks the fact Saints would not have been playing, and pressing, in that manner to win the ball in the first place and then try and counter so swiftly.

Saints had to guard against another West Ham performance having beaten Leicester in the previous league game and did just that.

Suddenly things are looking up, with an eight point swing versus Cardiff in seven matches since Hasenhuutl’s first game in charge, which was a 1-0 loss in Wales.

Saints now have a short break before a decisive run of fixtures against relegation rivals which they go into with optimism rather than trepidation.