Ralph Hasenhuttl hailed the display of Angus Gunn after taking the brave decision to give him a Premier League debut at Chelsea.

Hasenhuttl drafted in the 22-year-old, a £13.5m summer signing, for what looked like it might be a baptism of fire against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

But the stopper proved to be easily up to the task, making several good saves and fitting into a side that produced a committed display to ensure a goalless draw.

Hasenhuttl will now give Gunn a second runout in the FA Cup tie at Derby.

The Saints manager said: “I think he did an amazing job.

“He is a very offensive defending goalkeeper and that is what I need against a team that is always playing the chipped balls behind the last line.

“I was aware of them and we knew that they have good deep runs and this ball is very hard to defend for centre backs so we need a keeper who is on the jump and defending forward, and there were a lot of situations where he saved the ball.

“He is a very talented goalkeeper and I want to give him two games. This was the first and the second is against Derby County in the FA Cup.

“I think he deserved to have a clean sheet.”

Gunn’s promotion meant a demotion for Alex McCarthy.

However, Hasenhuttl refused to confirm whether Gunn would be the permanent number one if he impresses again at Derby.

“I don’t think about this thing at the moment,” insisted Hasenhuttl.

“We have other problems at the moment.

“We have fantastic goalkeepers and we have to look to get the points we really need.

“Now there are two games gone in the background with Manchester City and Chelsea and we take one (point).

“Since I make here against the big teams it is four and it is good quality we showed against the big teams but against the teams we need to beat we need to be as concentrated as we were today.

“We need to be because we need to win these games.”

Hasenhuttl made eight changes to the team at Chelsea, including leaving out the suspended Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. He also had to withdraw Danny Ings at half time as precaution due to his hamstring injury and will now be without Maya Yoshida, who left Stamford Bridge immediately to join up with Japan for the Asia Cup.

“I miss Pierre Hojbjerg and Maya Yoshida both until nearly the end of January and they are two of my best players,” said a rueful Hasenhuttl.

“We will find also a right decision to bring a good team on the pitch. We have to, and a team which has a good plan is a team that can also win without Maya or Pierre.

“Looking forward that we perform like this and we can win also without them.”