Having been beaten 4-1 at Tottenham on the opening day, the Saints then trailed 2-0 at home to Leeds, but they roared back into that one to earn a point and then came from behind again at Leicester a week later, this time to secure a victory.

Then, in the early kick-off on Saturday, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side were unlucky to lose 1-0, battling until the final whistle in a bid to rescue a point.

‘I had the chance to watch the game live because they played before us and our meetings were done,’ said Tuchel.

‘I saw a very strong Southampton side. They had a huge turnaround in Leicester to win the game. You could see they gained a lot of confidence from that in the Manchester United game. They conceded, but they had a lot of touches in the box, a lot of shots, they were very mobile up front.

‘What you can always expect in Southampton is a physical game, a running game, a high intensity game. We need to recover good and be well prepared to have a chance to repeat what we did last season.’

That was a fantastic 6-0 victory in April, certainly one of the best attacking performances the Blues have produced in the Tuchel era.

Today the boss will be back in talking distance of his team having served his one-match touchline suspension against Leicester, and in the opposite dugout will be a regular opponent for Tuchel over the years in Hasenhuttl.

‘I have a lot of respect for Ralph, we have played against each other many times. He’s a very nice person, a very good coach. His fingerprints are all over this team at Southampton every year.

‘Before the match he will be very friendly, but during the match he will not only be friendly with us, make no mistake, he is a competitor like we are, we will fight it out but always with fair play, and it’s better to be on the sideline than in the stands.’