MATT Le Tissier is backing Mark Hughes, his former Saints teammate, to keep the club in the Premier League – 19 years after they helped pull off the Great Escape.

Le Tissier’s heroics in the 2-0 win against Wimbledon at Selhurst Park on the penultimate day of the 1998-99 season – when he came off the bench to inspire a 2-0 win in front of 12,000 away fans – kept Saints in the Premier League for another season.

Now Le Tissier is backing Hughes, who played the last 12 matches of that season, to oversee another survival story.

He told Radio Solent: “The situation we’re in at the moment doesn’t call for someone without any Premier League experience.

“With over 400 games, Mark’s got plenty of that. Hopefully he can fire up the players more than appeared to be the case at Newcastle last week.

“Clubs have sacked managers later in the season than this - Lawrie Sanchez came in [at Fulham] with four to go and saved them [in 2007].

“But it’s going to be tough. With five away games, three at home and five or six against teams in the top half, it’s certainly not an easy run-in.

“But there aren’t games we aren’t capable of picking up points from and hopefully we can get enough to stay up.”

Le Tissier added: “I think it’s a pretty good appointment. Mark fits in with the club’s way of thinking.

“I don’t think he’s been down this end of the table too many times in his career. Obviously, he wasn’t having a great season at Stoke this year.

“But as far as I can remember it was the first time he had a team really struggling against relegation.

“He’s managed some big teams and was a fantastic player himself, I played with him for a couple of seasons.

“He’s got knowledge of the club, even it was a different stadium back then, but we keep our fingers crossed he can keep us up this season first and foremost and then kick on again next season.”