Ronald Koeman believes that Saints’ draw at Chelsea was built on the unshakeable belief of his side.

After a recent wobble Saints have got themselves back on track, with a late winner over Crystal Palace followed up by a refreshing group break to Davos and now a fantastic point at Stamford Bridge.

With virtually a fully fit squad to pick from and eight winnable looking fixtures now on the horizon, Saints are perfectly set-up for a brilliant finale to the season as they chase European qualification.

“Why we have to be afraid? It’s football, enjoy,” said Koeman after the draw against the Premier League leaders.

“It’s 11 against 11 with a good referee today and show your qualities.

“That’s not a lot of pressure.

“We know that we can play good football, we have a good defence and organisation, we don’t receive a lot of goals and we have good quality players to score goals.

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“You need belief in that and the lads showed that belief you need to get a good result.”

Koeman feels that the Chelsea result has proven a lot about the character of his side ahead of the final nine games of the season.

“I think it’s always difficult to get a good result against a very strong team such as Chelsea has,” he admitted.

“I think we had a fantastic reaction after the 1-0 down in the game, we played very good football, we deserved to score at least one time and we had some more good chances for the 2-1.

“Good ball possession and that was a little bit the problem second half. Chelsea were pressing much more second half than first half and difficult for us to keep ball possession.

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“To get a result against them you need luck, a great goalkeeper and great organisation and we had that.

“Proud of how we played, how we showed our spirit and our character and that gives us a very good feeling for the last nine games that we have.”

Saints now have this week to prepare for the visit of Burnley.

Although the Clarets will arrive at St Mary’s in the bottom three they defeated Saints at Turf Moor in December and beat Manchester City last time out.

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Koeman is therefore taking nothing for granted.

“It’s very important (the Chelsea result) and we know next week we play at home against Burnley and it’s difficult. They beat Man City,” reflected Koeman.

“In the last part of the season every team is playing for something and you need to be prepared for that.

“It will be a good confidence for the players how we played today, the draw we had finally in the game and the next one you start at zero again and you have to show your qualities.”