Ryan Bertrand says Saints are already relishing their huge relegation clash with West Ham after Mark Hughes’ instant impact on the squad.

The Saints skipper has been impressed with the extra impetus Hughes has injected into the team since replacing Mauricio Pellegrino, which helped guide the squad to the FA Cup semi-finals via a win at Wigan.

Though Bertrand now heads off with the England squad for friendlies against Holland and Italy, he is already looking ahead to a massive game against the Hammers as soon as he returns.

"It's definitely a massive game," said the 28-year-old.

"It's something you might as well look forward to. There is no other way.

“You go there and relish the opportunity because if you come out of there with a result it leaves you in very good stead."

Saints will go into the game at the London Stadium in the bottom three, facing a West Ham side who are sat just one place and two points above them.

Hughes has been brought in on a contract until the end of the season with the objective of keeping Saints up, and Bertrand thinks the vastly experienced Welshman has a lot to offer.

“I'm looking forward to playing the remainder of the season with him,” admitted Bertrand.

“He's been there and done it. Even as a player, he's vastly experienced as well, and whatever he can share with us hopefully we can use and do what we need to do."

Saints have won just one of their last 17 league games, with a 3-0 defeat by Newcastle spelling the end of the road for Pellegrino.

"It's a shared responsibility, from the manager to the players," said Bertrand. "But when push comes to shove unfortunately it's the manager that gets the bad end of it."

Sunday's FA Cup quarter-final allowed Hughes the relative luxury of assessing his players outside of the Premier League pressure cooker, and all will hope it proves a catalyst for the challenges to come.

Bertrand said: "That's what it's about, just getting a win and taking confidence from that. We can take progressing in the competition into the league."

Wigan dominated the first half but could not find the breakthrough and Southampton made them pay, upping their level in the second half and scoring through Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Cedric Soares, while Manolo Gabbiadini had a penalty brilliantly saved by Christian Walton.

Bertrand was not surprised by the pattern of the match, saying: "I think that's tradition really, if you look at past fixtures. Wigan are a good team but lack quality compared to us. They have to fight and they made it a fight. It's about competing with that and not being undone. After 50-60 minutes they died."