Mark Hughes is under mounting pressure at Southampton as he battles to keep his job.

Saints boss Hughes has delivered just one Premier League win all season — on September 1 — and is clinging on with games against Leicester in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday and tough-looking top-flight meetings with Manchester United and Tottenham to come over the next 10 days.

Southampton's top brass are weighing up their options, with managerial alternatives such as Celtic's Brendan Rodgers and former Ajax and Borussia Dortmund coach Peter Bosz possible candidates.

Ex-Liverpool boss Rodgers would take some persuading to leave the Scottish champions mid-season and make the jump back to the Premier League having done so well in Glasgow.

(Image: Action Images via Reuters)

Bosz impressed in his only season at Ajax, missing out on the title by a single point while also making the Europa League Final, where they lost to Manchester United.

He moved on to Dortmund last summer but a winless Champions League group phase and a run of eight Bundesliga games without a victory saw him sacked before Christmas.

Leonardo Jardim, recently fired by Monaco less than 18 months after steering them to the French title and a Champins League semi-final, has also been linked.

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(Image: Reuters)

Southampton’s behind-the-scenes set-up underwent its own upheaval with vice-chairman Les Reed getting the axe last month. Director of football operations Ross Wilson is favourite to step up.

But the club realise they left it too long last season before making a change, firing Mauricio Pellegrino to bring in Hughes in mid-March, and nearly went down as a result. While they are always reluctant to be seen to be a sacking club, they are unlikely to leave it as long this time unless Hughes proves he can again guide them towards safety.

(Image: Action Images via Reuters)

Hughes insisted after losing Saturday's six-pointer away to Fulham that he can still turn it around, but knows that his biggest task may be to turn around the fans who are losing faith.

"We have had similar stories in other games we have played," he said. "We scored a good goal and then all of a sudden we find ourselves behind in a game we dominated.

"The two goals are poor from our point of view.

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"We talk about fundamentals until we are blue in the face — we allowed Aleksandar Mitrovic too much space on two occasions.

"We are not allowing ourselves to benefit from our good play — sometimes you just need to put your foot through it. We have got to create more clear-cut chances. We get plenty of shots off as an away team but we need to make sure we pick our moments. We are not quite converting enough."