RALPH Hasenhuttl admitted he doesn’t want to become over-reliant on Danny Ings.

The striker has netted four of Saints’ nine Premier League goals this season, including last week’s finish against Wolves.

And with £15m summer signing Che Adams handed a place on the bench in recent weeks, Hasenhuttl says there would be an issue if he could only rely on Ings.

“Normally I am not only looking on one striker who scores for the team because it means when he’s out you have a problem,” explained Hasenhuttl.

“I would like to have three, four or five players who are always able to score because this is more important for the team.

“I not a manager who is looking only on one guy who helps you because it means you can be easier to read if it’s just one.

"For us, it’s important to have other players who can score, and we should bring them more in the position to score.

“When we play the back five our wingers have chances to come into the box and score and Ryan Bertrand had a big chance and Yan Valery as well.

“We should be more committed also in front and this is something more important than to have only one guy who scores.”

Hasenhuttl believes the work Ings did over pre-season meant that he was able to start this campaign in the best shape possible.

He was able to overcome a difficult few weeks when Adams was given the nod ahead of him in the starting XI.

Despite having an excellent impact in recent weeks, Hasenhuttl admitted playing three times in one week might be too much for Ings to handle.

Tomorrow’s game with Leicester is followed by back-to-back trips to Manchester City in the coming days.

Hasenhuttl added: “It comes to a point where he can really play over 90 minutes. It doesn’t mean I play him in three games a week as this isn’t the best idea for him.

“At the moment he feels physically very well, and he can play 90 minutes which is something he couldn’t do so far.

“A good pre-season and the last few weeks helped him massively and confidence is high with the goals and you can feel in every session he has a lot of confidence in front of goal.

“This is a result of very hard work and changing a few habits - taking less touches, running more from deep and coming into positions to score.

“We showed him things to do he can do better and he is doing it and maybe it helps him score more now.”