MATT Le Tissier insists Saints can win a trophy this season.

The 3-2 defeat to Manchester United in the 2017 League Cup final was as close as the club has come to emulating the heroes of 1976, when Saints won the FA Cup, writes Will Jennings.

To progress in the Carabao Cup, they will have to overcome current holders Manchester City in the next round.

But with the FA Cup also up for grabs Le Tissier believes Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side should be targeting a trophy, as well as improvement in the Premier League.

“I think we’re realistic enough to know that we’re not going to win the Premier League,” said the Saints legend.

“But we got to the final of the League Cup a couple of seasons ago and just lost out narrowly to Manchester United.

“So there’s no reason why we can’t win a trophy this season.

“There’s a lot of talent in the squad so hopefully we can get the best out of all of them – Nathan Redmond last season was pretty important for us.

“He gives us that pace, that edge and that directness to our play that causes people problems.

“Moussa Djenepo has also been a big plus – he got two fantastic goals away from home (against Brighton and Sheffield United) which have really turned the games in our favour and got us six points.

“Its a shame he’s injured but it will be good to see him have a run in the side when he’s back.”

While Saints are yet to win at home this season, they won four in succession on the road before the 2-1 defeat at Spurs two weeks ago, including the 4-0 win at Pompey that set up next month’s tie at the Etihad.

“It’s been a pretty mixed start but away from home we’ve looked dangerous and apart from the Burnley game we’ve looked pretty solid,” continued Le Tissier.

“It’s a bit unusual for a Saints team to be winning more points away from home than they are at home.

“It’s such a strange one but it probably suits us the way we play.”

Speaking before the 4-1 defeat at home to Chelsea, Le Tissier continued: “It was always going to be tough to get something from our first two home games given that they were against Liverpool and Manchester United.

“The Bournemouth game was a disappointment but the win at Pompey was a big pick-me-up.

“It was obviously incredibly important to the fans so to get such an emphatic victory was a nice reward given the intimidation they have to put up with down there!”

Ahead of the tie at City in two weeks’ time, Le Tissier drew a compelling comparison between the two clubs’ approaches.

“I think we’ve been pretty lucky with the talent that’s come through,” he added.

“Obviously there’s lots of good coaches down there, but I think the biggest thing is that the players get given the chance to play in the first-team at Southampton.

“These boys could be at much bigger football clubs where perhaps they weren’t getting the chance – you look at Phil Foden at Manchester City who’s not really getting much of a look in.

“I think if he was at Southampton he’d have been playing the in first-team for two or three seasons, so that’s the difference.”

Le Tissier was speaking at the launch of private charter flight Le Tiss Air, an initiative devised by eToro, partner of Southampton FC and five other Premier League clubs. This is to reward Saints fans who have to travel, on average, 12% more miles than other Premier League fans across the season.

eToro, the global multi-asset investment platform, is rewarding loyal football fans ahead of an in-depth report due to be released later this month in association with the KPMG Football Benchmark, which looks at the costs associated with being a dedicated match-going football fan. To find out more please head to www.eToro.com