SAINTS boss Mark Hughes believes the club’s supporters will be “excited” by his team this season.

Borussia Mönchengladbach provide the opposition at St Mary’s tomorrow afternoon for Saints’ last friendly before next Sunday’s Premier League opener against Burnley.

Hughes said: “Once we get to a point where everything clicks I think people will be excited by what we’re able to produce.

“We’re expecting another good test [today]. I was happy with the level of opposition in all the games. They’ve tested us with different things and problems that we needed to solve. It will be another similar game, I’d imagine.”

Saints drew 3-3 with FC Schalke before beating Jiangsu Suning 3-2 in China. After losing 3-0 at Derby County they won 2-0 away to French outfit Dijon FCO last week, before their thrilling 3-2 win against Celta Vigo on Wednesday night.

“It’s been good,” continued Hughes.

“It was difficult in China because we played two games early in our preparation but I think that’s actually helped us.

“Once we got the travel out of our legs after the Derby game, we’ve been in good nick and looked like we’re progressing.

“This is obviously the final game and we’ll look at a number of things that will hopefully help us against Burnley.

“But we’ve got another week after that so there’s still work to be done.

“There’s been a lot of change, for the right reasons.

“I think you have to be progressive both as a club and as a squad.

“A lot of hard work has gone into pushing us forward as a club, so hopefully we’ll all benefit from that progress.

“The key thing for us is that we get started with the Premier League now. The important stuff starts next week.”

Hughes expects to have Mario Lemina and Nathan Redmond back tomorrow, after they missed Celta Vigo's visit. But Cédric Soares is still not available.

“Mario has got tonsillitis and Nathan Redmond has gone over on his ankle but should be ok,” added Hughes.

“We’re hopeful both of them will be involved. The only other absentee is Cédric who has unfortunately picked up a stomach bug and hasn’t come back yet .

“Hopefully he will be back in with us next week but we’ll have to wait and see how that progresses.”