Dusan Tadic is hoping Saints’ daunting end to 2017 brings out the best in him and his teammates.

Saints’ visit to Liverpool tomorrow is the start of a ten-game run that includes trips to Manchester City, AFC Bournemouth, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United in the next six weeks.

Tadic is undaunted, having helped Saints to wins at five of those clubs in the last few seasons - including Saints’ EFL Cup semi-final win at Anfield in January.

“It’s nice to play big games, I hope they bring out the best in us – we need to be strong mentally and physically because we need the points,” he said.

“We have had a lot of success at those clubs in the last few years but we need to be focused in this moment.

“It will be very hard because Liverpool are a very strong team but we need to do our best. They are a very strong team that plays with an attacking mind - they always look to score goals.”

Tadic is yet to add to his 24 Premier League assists after ten starts in what has been a difficult start to the season, his fourth at Saints.

The next ten games are arguably the toughest of his Saints career. “It will be tough, we need to go game by game and we’ll see at the end of the season how we’ve done,” he said.

“We need to fight for everything and give 100 per cent to make it easier for all of us.”

Losing at home to Burnley after failing to make the most of an early lead at Brighton has added to the pressure on Saints ahead of their Anfield trip.

“The last game we played we had a good first half and the second not so good. We need to be more balanced - our goal should be to attack and defend together,” added Tadic, who remains confident of an upturn in fortunes under Mauricio Pellegrino.

“He wants to correct us, to explain his philosophy - we need to adapt and to accept that to try to make us better.

“We need to listen to try to do that as best as possible.”

Tadic, having already helped Serbia qualify automatically for the World Cup, played in his country’s 2-0 win in China last week but is fresh for Anfield after being rested from his country’s 1-1 draw in South Korea on Wednesday.