Ralph Hasenhüttl is hopeful that his side’s second-half performance at Emirates Stadium against Arsenal on Sunday will give them confidence of being aggressive and taking the game to Fulham at St Mary’s on Wednesday
Saints take on Claudio Ranieri’s Cottagers in midweek in a game that would have been identified as the more critical fixture at the start of the month in spite of their efforts in north London.
A change in system and shape brought an improvement against Arsenal and the Austrian is confident his players will take the positives forward to home turf this week.
“Nobody expected us to win against Arsenal,” he said. “We did it once and it was a big win for us at the time.
“To come here and think we could do it again maybe was too much. We saw that we had chances and we defended better in the second half and won more balls but we know that Wednesday will be a completely different game.
“I think it would have been horrible for our mindset for Wednesday night’s game had we collapsed in the second half.
“Instead, we showed that we can play better than we did in the first but unfortunately it didn’t change anything; we know Wednesday is a very big game and we have to find the right shape and personnel for it.
“We will have to be at maximum focus and we will do everything to win the game.”