SAINTS defender Ryan Bertrand has urged his teammates to ensure they are at their best against their rivals in the Premier League’s ‘second division’ – starting at Wolves this weekend.

The failure to beat Premier League front runners Liverpool made it 25 games without a victory against a top-six club.

But Bertrand acknowledged that a positive result at Anfield would have been a “bonus”.

Saints are now focused on trying to replicate their recent win at Crystal Palace, another of the mid-table teams competing for a spot in the top half, as they prepare for their first game at Wolves for a decade.

“Games against teams like Wolves, teams outside the top six, are ones we have to win,” he said.

“We should be well in the running for winning that second league so to speak.”

Wolves continued their impressive start to their first Premier League season since 2012 with a 1-1 draw at Manchester United, while Saints were losing 3-0 at Anfield.

Bertrand is hoping for an improvement at Molineux, where Saints won 4-1 on their last top-flight visit in April 2004.

“Coming to places like [Anfield] are games where, if you’re a realist, a point is a bonus,” he told Radio Solent.

“You go for it and try and show them they’re not the better team. In possession, when we got into their half, we played some good stuff.

“It’s not like they were the better team, we just gave them three goals. You can’t do that to any team.

“Individual errors kill game plans. These things happen but on the balance of it we played really well in the first half.

“We created good stuff in the wide areas; me and Matty on the left, Cedric and Redders down the right and Pierre and Mario down the middle.

“It was in the balance. If we take away the goals we go into half-time full of confidence and you’d see an even more impressive second half. 

“One thing we needed to do was show character and step up to the plate.

“We didn’t do that, the score stayed the same but the second half was disappointing.”