Ralph Hasenhuttl insists that Saints are “not frightened of anyone” as they enter a daunting run of games.

Saints have slipped back into the Premier League’s bottom three after picking up just two points in matches against relegation rivals Crystal Palace, Burnley and Cardiff.

The pressure is now on them to get some wins, but they face a tough run of fixtures, starting away to Arsenal tomorrow.

There is another basement battle on Wednesday as Fulham visit St Mary’s before a trip to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United and then a visit from Tottenham.

It is a daunting run but Hasenhuttl, who took his team to Tenerife for warm weather training in the two-week fixture lay-off they have just enjoyed, remains upbeat.

He said: “We showed that when we are well organised it’s not easy to score against us, but these teams don’t need many chances – they have so much quality.

“We’re not frightened of anyone and confidence is high at the moment. We didn’t win many but didn’t lose many either.

“Small mistakes can make a huge difference between winning points or not. That was the key message in the last two weeks.

“In some parts of game it’s not about shape or tactics but about keeping a clean sheet, defending like a team in last five minutes, being smart, don’t take risks anymore and we’ve tried to create this scenario in training and that’s important because in the last two games we gave away big points away in that time and we shouldn’t in the future.”

The break in Tenerife has generally been received as a positive, but the proof will ultimately be on the pitch.

“I think it was an intensive time but I think we needed it,” admitted Hasenhuttl.

“We are still on the line and we have a hard way to go until the end and so it was important to use the time.

“We had the chance to speak with every player and show him what was good until now and what was not so good.

“We take points until now. It is the same amount of points we need until the end of the season. We need 40 points maybe to stay in the league.

“It was important to get a reminder and speak about things we have improved in our games and things that can be better in the future for the challenges we face in the next week against top teams and teams in our zone.

“We have shown we can take points against big teams and lose points against small teams.

“We have a plan for every game and that is what we try and prepare.”