Saints added to back-to-back away wins at Aston Villa and Chelsea with a hard-fought 1-1 home draw with Crystal Palace, before overcoming Tottenham by a solitary goal on New Year’s Day.



Stephens has played a major role in Saints’ resurgence. Whilst he couldn’t identify one factor behind the team’s upturn in results, he certainly recognises the extra patience from the home crowd.



“Everyone’s been digging in, everyone’s been sticking together,” he said.



“It’s hard to pick one particular thing, but I think we’ve all just seemed to step it up a little bit, and you can see once you get a couple of good results, the confidence is building.

“Everyone feels a little bit less nervy. The crowd have been brilliant in the last two home games, and I think the whole atmosphere has completely changed.



“I think it started in the Palace game. I really felt it in that game, especially when we went 1-0 down.



“There have been times when it’s been difficult when we go 1-0 down, but the fans were unbelievable.



“They stuck by us and really drove us on to get that equaliser. We tried to get the winner and we couldn’t, but today, again, they turned up and they were unbelievable for us.



“You could hear the atmosphere at the end. They appreciated us, and obviously we appreciate them.”

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