Victor Wanyama is hoping Saints will continue to prove people wrong this season.

The Kenyan midfield powerhouse and his teammates welcome Arsenal to St Mary’s on New Year’s Day, with Saints ahead of the Gunners on goal difference in fourth place.

Wanyama admits the Saints squad felt nobody had given them a hope of achieving anything of note at the start of the season, but believes that is changing after a fantastic first half of the campaign rounded off with a draw against league leaders Chelsea.

He said: “Yeah, you know now everybody knows what we can do. At the beginning no one gave us a chance.

“But now I think maybe everybody knows what we can do.

“I think we deserved three points (against Chelsea), but we were unlucky. I thought it was a foul before they got their goal from that.

“I think we did well.

“It is going to be a tough game (against Arsenal). We are at home so we need to have the same spirit and hopefully we can get a good result.”

Wanyama says Saints is a great place to be right now, with the players even lifting his spirits after his home was recently raided by thieves by buying him a fancy dress burglar’s outfit.

He smiled: “It was a Secret Santa. I don’t know who did it, but they bought it for me.

“You never know who is buying for you. I received a TV and a mask, so it was funny. It was a funny thing, we laughed a lot.

“Sometimes as footballers you have to be happy and there are things we do.

“We are enjoying ourselves and look to make good results.”

Wanyama has got over the shock of the robbery, which took place while Saints were playing away at Aston Villa in November.

His Range Rover car has been returned to him but his football memorabilia is still missing.

“I got my car back but the rest of my stuff, I don't know about,” he said.

“The most important thing is that – the memories of football I have had before.

“If I can get that back, I will be more than happy.”

Wanyama was again paired with Morgan Schneiderlin in the centre of the Saints midfield against Chelsea.

It is certainly a partnership that is flourishing, though it will be broken up for the Arsenal as Schneiderlin serves a one game ban after picking up a late red card against the Blues.

“It is a lot of fun playing with him,” admitted Wanyama.

“We understand each other very well and always click very well.

“It is always nice to play next to him.”

A new face in the side was Matt Targett, who looked totally at home on his first Premier League start.

“He did well, he did well. He is a very good player. He is still learning but he is just a great boy to play alongside,” said Wanyama.

“You know this was the biggest the test he has had. He just did it well, he was amazing.

“The club always has produced some fantastic young players.”