SAINTS legend Matt Le Tissier believes the dangling carrot of an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley will inspire Mark Hughes’ men in the coming Premier League run-in.

With new boss Hughes to impress and vital league points up for grabs in four top-flight matches before the last-four tie against Chelsea on April 22, Le Tiss hopes the players will be fired up.

On top of this, under previous boss Mauricio Pellegrino, Saints lost 5-2 at Wembley to Tottenham on Boxing Day and Le Tiss wants that to be another motivator to put on a good display against Chelsea.

“I hope having an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley to look forward to will inspire the players in the next few games,” he said.

“They’ll want to make sure they’re in the team for that semi-final. That’s crucial, especially for the lads that haven’t played at Wembley before.

“They’ve got to erase a certain defeat there on Boxing Day too. We didn’t do too well against Spurs, but hopefully we can give ourselves a shot of getting to the final with a performance against Chelsea.”

Le Tiss, who scored 209 goals in 462 starts for Saints, played with Hughes, who replaced Pellegrino at the helm this month after a dire run of just one win 17 league games, during the Welshman’s two-year stay at The Dell between 1998 and 2000.

From playing alongside ‘fiery’ Hughes, the 49-year-old has faith the experienced boss can have the desired impact at St Mary's.

“I hope the team will be more on the front foot. I think the fact that he went with two upfront against Wigan I think was a good sign,” he said, referring to the 2-0 FA Cup quarter final win at the Latics.

“We needed to see a little bit more intent going forward from the side and that’s an important thing that Mark can instil.

“He’s also got to get the players fired up and that’s something he’s got in his locker. He can be a pretty fiery character.

“I played alongside Mark for a couple of seasons and those qualities should hopefully be enough to make sure we keep our Premier League status.”

Saints are currently inside the Premier League's bottom three, two points behind next Saturday’s opponents West Ham in 17th.

It’s a relegation six-pointer at the London Stadium against the Hammers, although Le Tiss is not yet panicking about Saints’ situation with 24 points still up for grabs in the remaining eight Premier League games.

“It’s not a nice position to be in first and foremost, but the most important thing is our destiny is still in our own hands in terms of games available for us to pick points up in,” he said.

“There’s a lot of teams still involved in this relegation scrap and the game against West Ham coming up is going to be pretty vital one.”