Ronald Koeman hopes that Saints’ 3-0 victory over Everton could prove to be the most important of the season so far.

After five defeats on the spin Saints desperately needed a result against the Toffees at St Mary’s to try and regain some momentum and get things moving forward again.

They delivered exactly that, as Koeman switched formation to three centre halves and handed Harrison Reed a first start for the club in the midst of plenty of injuries and suspensions.

It might just prove to be a vital win.

“We hope so,” said Koeman.

“Of course I think it’s always after some defeats you have always a different way in losing a game.

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“We were very disappointed about last Tuesday (against Sheffield United) and then always the answer is on the pitch and we had a great, unbelievable spirit.

“We changed the system and it’s always important if you change the system the players need to be comfortable in that system and we spoke about that and had two sessions to do that in a different way and we had a good organisation.

“I think they key to winning was winning the battles in midfield.

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“Harry Reed was outstanding, he was showing with a lot of energy and you need that to play and to have the best of yourself.

“Normally mostly you have the luck on your side.

“Maybe a little bit lucky the first goal but second half we controlled the game, they didn’t create a lot, Fraser had two fantastic saves in the last 15 minutes.

“The team was outstanding and the team was the key to win the game.”

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He added: “We work hard to keep going, to continue what we are doing.

“It was difficult because we had four or five defeats in the last weeks, sometimes unlucky as we didn’t play bad, but not so good as in the first part of the season.

“It’s always the best medicine to come back to what we showed in the beginning of the season.”