Mauricio Pochettino has declared himself pleased with Saints’ 2013 – and is hoping to prove what the club are all about when he gets a fully fit squad early in the new year.

Pochettino has been in charge since mid January and overseen Saints’ rise from relegation scrappers to top half contenders.

He is understandably satisfied with the progress so far, especially this season.

“We have started off really well and got some really good results,” he said.

“We’ve been able to establish our style, our attacking philosophy and our style of football.

“We have new talent and we are achieving the fact we are putting together a solid team.

“We still have a young side that is competing in the Premier League and that’s not easy and I think so far the assessment is a positive one.

“The project is one that is based around young talent and it’s very important to nurture this young talent to get it going.

“During these last six months we have been going through different phases but overall the team is much stronger, especially when we have all our players fully fit and available.

“The last two months we have been plagued with a lot of injuries and illnesses and that has hindered our process a little bit but we accept that as part of the competition.

“The most important thing is that we have been able to maintain our philosophy, our attacking style of football and one in which is the young players are vital.”

It could be a significant 2014 for Saints.

Though they are going to have to go some to achieve their aim of European football via the league this season, they are set for a strong top half finish, and then no doubt an even better run at the top four in the next campaign.

“It’s very clear that we are fully fit and have all our players available it will make us a much more solid group and then we will see what potential we have for 2014,” reflected Pochettino.

“In the meantime, our mentality still remains the same – to win every game, to take it step by step and day by day.

“Then we will see what potential (we have) and how far we can go in 2014, but our aim is always to win every single game.”

Saints kick-off 2014 by welcoming Chelsea to St Mary’s this afternoon and Pochettino is hopeful of starting the new year with a win.

“Our mentality never changes, our mentality is always to win the next game. That’s what we focus on regardless of who we play or where we are playing,” he said.

“We are going to be facing Chelsea who are one of the best in England, one of the best in Europe probably, but our focus doesn’t change.

“We want to be 100 per cent focussed on attack, 100 per cent focussed on defence and get the win.”