Southampton are determined to stick with Ralph Hasenhuttl - who has received a singing endorsement ahead of the club's huge basement battle against Aston Villa.

Southampton's ongoing struggles under Hasenhuttl have sparked dressing room concerns that he may not be able to arrest their slide.

The south coast club head to Villa Park third bottom having won just four of their 17 league games this season.

Ralph Hasenhuttl will be given more time to turn Southampton's dire situation around

Villa are just a place above Southampton and the drop zone on goal difference, increasing the importance of Saturday's game.

Despite doubts among some members of the squad about whether Hasenhuttl can revive the club's fortunes, though, he retains the backing of St Mary's chiefs.

That was underlined at the club's Christmas party on Sunday when former owner and current board member Katharina Liebherr ended her speech with a rendition of Hasenhuttl's terrace chant, sung to the tune of Last Christmas.

Katharina Liebherr gave Hasenhuttl a singing endorsement at the club's Christmas party

The display of vocal support for Hasenhuttl comes amid growing doubts about his future among some of his squad, who fear the loss of his assistant Danny Rohl in August has been a key factor in their troubles and one their boss has been unable to recover from.

Sportsmail understands some players expected Hasenhuttl's reign to have come to an end last month before the impressive performance and draw at Arsenal followed by the back-to-back home wins over Watford and Norwich, in their eyes, earned him a stay of execution.

Successive defeats against Newcastle and West Ham though have put Hasenhuttl's position back in the spotlight again.

The Austrian was appointed last December, succeeding Mark Hughes, on a two-and-a-half year deal that runs until 2021.

Hasenhuttl's current deal runs until 2021 but he is under severe pressure to improve the side

For the second season running they became dragged into a relegation battle last term, only securing their survival with two games to spare, and their difficulties have continued into this campaign.

They are particularly struggling at home and have the second worst record in the league.

Among their six defeats in nine St Mary's matches was their record 9-0 hammering against Leicester, the biggest defeat in the club's history.

Southampton, though, believe Hasenhuttl remains the right man for the job and their situation will improve by investing in their squad in January rather than changing manager.

Hasenhuttl's last loss was against West Ham and Manuel Pellegrini, who is also under pressure

The latter would be a costly process involving paying off the Austrian and also potentially shelling out for a replacement.

Southampton sacked Claude Puel, Mauricio Pellegrino and Hughes during an 18-month period between June 2017 and December 2018.

With none of the changes bringing about the hoped for upturn in fortunes, largely because each manager was working with a similar group of players, the south coast club have now prioritised squad strengthening.