Jose Fonte is hoping Saints will remain ahead of Arsenal after the sides meet in a “massive” New Year’s Day clash.

Saints go into the game in fourth place, separated from the Gunners only by goal difference, and are chasing their first win against Arsene Wenger’s side for over a decade.

There was little to choose between the sides when they met at the start of December at the Emirates Stadium as Arsenal edged it 1-0 late on with Saints down to ten men.

Ronald Koeman’s side had previously dumped Arsenal out of the Capital One Cup with their first win at Arsenal since 1987.

After getting a point from table-topping Chelsea on Sunday, Koeman’s side go into tomorrow’s fixture high in belief and ready to keep ahead of the Gunners.

Saints skipper Fonte said of a clash against a club that have finished in the top four every year since 1996/97: “We want to stay in front of them, so it’s a massive game.

“We always know Arsenal come up strong in the end of the season.

“They have so much quality that it’s going to be hard to compete against them, but we’re going to do our job, we’re going to try and add points to our tally.

“We’re going to keep going and see where it takes us.

“We’ll take it one game at a time and, obviously, we want to stay in front of them.

“We know the quality that they have, but we believe in our quality.”

Saints proved they can get something against the big sides with a battling and brave point against Chelsea at St Mary’s last Sunday.

Fonte led the back four in a top drawer defensive display which Chelsea dominated but were denied the opportunity to create chances.

In fact, Saints restricted Jose Mourinho’s title favourites to just the one shot on target.

“We proved before that we can compete against them, so it was pleasing in the way that we got a point and now we look to get a win,” said Fonte.

“It’s another point to add to the other ones we have.

“It was against the top of the table, the best team arguably of the league, so we were pleased for that”

Saints have not beaten Arsenal in their last ten league meetings, a run stretching back to November 2002 and a James Beattie double helping Saints win 3-2 at St Mary’s.

Since returning to the Premier League in 2012, both games at Saints have ended with honours even.

A Guly own goal gave Arsenal a 1-1 draw on New Year’s Day 2013, while last January’s clash ended 2-2.