Saints will be roared on by more than 5,000 fans at Arsenal tonight, and Ronald Koeman has promised them he will name the strongest team possible.

The two sides will meet at the Emirates Stadium in the third round of the Capital One Cup, with a place in the last 16 of the competition at stake.

Koeman has reiterated his desire to win the trophy this season and, while he will not take any risks with players who are carrying injuries, he intends to field the best XI that he can.

He is also thrilled to know that Saints will be backed by such a large travelling support tonight.

“It’s great to have that kind of number of fans behind the team,” said the Saints boss, who named a strong side for the 2-0 win at Millwall in the previous round.

“Okay, it’s a difficult match, it’s the League Cup.

“But what I said before, in the League Cup against Millwall, we like to win everything.

“If a player’s in good shape, he’s able to play.

“We don’t take risks, but normally we like to play our strongest squad for Tuesday.”

Saints will take 5,188 fans with them to north London tonight, after what the club described as “unprecedented demand” saw more than 2,500 tickets sold as soon as they went on general sale last week.

Those supporters will be hoping to see their team win for the first time at the Emirates, following a 6-1 defeat and a 2-0 loss in their opening two trips – both in the Premier League – to Arsenal’s stadium.

Saints have an abysmal historical record when facing the Gunners away from home, with their last win on the road against them coming in November 1987, when Danny Wallace’s late goal gave them a 1-0 victory in the old First Division, at Highbury.

In fact, the club have only triumphed twice in 42 post-war trips to Arsenal, losing 27 of those visits.

Adding a third win to that list would make dreams of a trip to Wembley this season come that bit closer.

After this round, there will be no more than nine Premier League teams left in the competition.