GORDON Strachan has won widespread acclaim for the job he has done in steering Southampton from crisis to comparative comfort in five months.

But the Saints' boss, appointed in late October after impatient chairman Rupert Lowe called time on Stuart Gray, sounded anything but comfortable as he looked ahead to tomorrow's showdown with Wanderers.

"Don't forget," he rapped when he suspected a hint of complacency was creeping into the pre-match hype, "we're only a couple of points above them."

Strachan won the Barclaycard manager-of-the-month prize for January after taking 10 points out of 15 - including wins against Chelsea, Liverpool and West Ham - knows all the good work will be wasted if they do not make home advantage count tomorrow.

"There will be expectation on us, we know that," he acknowledged. "But so long as we conduct ourselves in the same manner as we have been doing these last couple of months, then nobody - not the manager or the fans - can ask for anything else.

"Whoever we play, we like to think we will give them our best and give them respect."

Saints' Norwegian defender Claus Lundekvam suggested today that Saints need just four wins from their remaining 12 games to secure their place in top flight football for a 25th successive season! But the manager - a veteran of gravity-defying feats at Coventry until they finally dropped out last season - refuses to hazard a guess at a safety target.

"It's a weird league this year," he explained. "Points are being taken away from the top and they've got to go somewhere. They've come to the bottom and the middle.

"All I am doing is reminding the players, individually and on a group basis, how important this game is. We've been totally focused on Bolton and the next 12 games. That's all we are thinking about."

Norwegian midfielder Jo Tessem is the man tipped to partner Latvian livewire Marian Pahars if, as expected, James Beattie and Brett Ormerod join Matt Le Tissier Agustin Delgado and the suspended Kevin Davies on Strachan's list of sidelined strikers.

But the fiery Scot is philosophical. "I don't like to speak too much about injuries because it can be off-putting for the players who come in," he says. "But I'll sleep well tonight."

Lundekvam expects Wanderers to be fired up and acknowledges the threat Michael Ricketts can pose, if he isn't closely marked.

"Bolton are playing for survival and we can expect them to make it very hard for us," he warned. "They are very physical and strong and the system they play will be very hard for us to break down.

"And it is important we don't give Ricketts opportunities because he's got the pace - once they hit the ball over the top."