RALPH Hasenhuttl insists Saints are ready for a "hard fight" as they bid to pull themselves clear of relegation trouble.

With Saturday's fixture against Brentford postponed, Saints are stuck in 15th in the Premier League table having played 17 games and accumulated 17 points. 

Following a run of six matches without a win, Hasenhuttl's charges are just six points clear of the relegation zone, although 18th-placed Burnley do have two games in hand.

After 17 games last season, Saints sat seventh, on 29 points.

Hasenhuttl recently claimed Saints deserved more points from their performances than the results have produced.

Asked if he is therefore quite relaxed about the club's position, the Austrian boss said: "I am far away from being relaxed at the moment, my neck is stiff and everything!

"I don’t see any Premier League manager that is relaxed at this time of the season, everybody is under pressure with games to play and points to take and we know our targets are what we have and we know how tough it is every season but it’s same for the other clubs but we are ready for the fight.

"We are not looking back or in front too much, we are looking at every game and every game gives us the chance to take the three points and that's the only way we can work here.

"When you see on your schedule that all the big names are coming up then you think, oh my God where are we going to get the points?

"But then we you play the games there isn’t much missing from taking the win or a point and this is what we have to see and getting better in every part of our game and this is our goal every day and this is what we are working on every day.”

Saints are next due in action away at fifth-placed West Ham United on Boxing Day.

Two home clashes are then scheduled against Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United, before the third round of the FA Cup at Swansea City on January 8.

Asked if he feels there is enough quality within his squad to steer clear of the bottom three, Hasenhuttl added: "For everybody it is a hard fight.

"I think we are trusting in us, we are believing in us. We know that every game is a tough challenge for us.

"This is before the season, not a surprise. And now even less. It is always a tough race until the end.

"In the past years, we could manage to have a period in the season where we took all our points and from this then we moved on.

"The Premier League, especially over Christmas time, is a very important term and a very intense term. You have to be ready with your team for the tough challenges coming up."