The Premier League is one of the most ruthless divisions in football, and Southampton boss Mauricio Pellegrino is finding that out the hard way.

Pellegrino's side are now four games without a win in the leguae, and the latest result was a humiliating 4-1 thrashing at home to former manager Claude Puel's Leicester City.

Southampton are in a relatively comfortable 11^th position in the table. But that comfort may appear false, with the Saints only 4 points off the drop zone. Another two defeats and they could be in the relegation dogfight along with the others.

The manager is not panicking, and he believes the coming game against Chelsea is the ideal fixture.

"For us it is a good opportunity this Saturday where we can play a top team where we might find more space. Even against the really good teams you can beat them, in 90 minutes anything can happen," he said.

"We were very close to winning against Arsenal but against Leicester they were much better than us. But this is the Premier League - it is very tough.

"We are thinking about trying to improve and there a big group of teams involved around us and you have to fight for every point."

The Premier League is incredibly tight in the bottom half this season., Only four points are separating 11^th from 19^th, with a further two points down to Swansea who are bottom of the table.

Any team that has a good or bad run during the Christmas period will either shoot up or down the table.