Claude Puel has urged his side to maintain their focus when Manchester City visit St Mary’s in the Premier League.
Saints are looking to record three straight wins for the first time this season, which could help them to move within a point of 8th placed West Bromwich Albion.
And Puel pointed to a recent meeting with AFC Bournemouth to highlight the fragility of the table as the season enters the home straight.
He said: “It’s always difficult, it’s fragile. You can see for example when we played AFC Bournemouth we were in the same part of the table three games ago.
“Now we are 9th and they are 16th. It’s important to keep a good focus in every game and we start against Manchester City.”
“It’s important to keep this with good football, while being strong in defence and quality with the ball. We will see if we can go up against this team.
“They’re a great but we have to play against a lot of great teams at the end of the season.”