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The Saints’ goalless draw with Manchester United last time out ensured they collected back-to-back clean sheets for the first time this season.

Southampton remain entrenched at the foot of the Premier League, but a win in front of their own fans against Brentford will see them drop out of the bottom three for the first time since November.

Selles has only been in charge for four league games and feels that he has already seen a defensive improvement in his team, but he is not getting carried away.

He said in a press conference: “Defensively we have been solid, but we still have to be better.

“Every opponent is different, it’s not the same preparation against Brentford that we faced against Manchester United.

“I think with every game we learn something and we do something, we talk to the players more and we are more examples, I think we are getting there.

“We can have the ball and be dominant, we want to play and defend higher. It is not that we are focused on clean sheets, I know what it means to us and the principles that we have in the game, we are not disarming the offense to keep clean sheets.

Brentford have enjoyed a wonderful campaign so far and are looking for a European place at the end of the season.

Thomas Frank’s in-form side are currently in ninth place but lost for the first time in 12 league games the last time in a 1-0 defeat at Everton.

It looks like Selles has finally pulled a tune out of his Saints side, but he hasn’t turned a blind eye to the Brentford threat.

He continued: “We need to be on our top. In every game, if we’re not on top and we don’t give ourselves a chance to perform, then we can’t compete against anyone, so we have to be on top.

“They can play with many systems, they are all players who can attack space. It’s a different challenge, but we’re ready for it and we’ll figure things out and have a game plan ready.

“When we took the team, the situation was much more complicated because the results and the performances were not good, but now we are in the same position but having good performances.”

Just five points separate the teams from Crystal Palace in 12th-placed bottom-placed Southampton in what is shaping up to be one of the closest relegation fights in recent memory.

Selles is not surprised by how close the table is after the recent results.

He said: “The more teams the better (towards the bottom of the table). I’m not surprised because as you saw every team can beat every team in the Premier League.

“We saw how difficult it was for Arsenal to beat Bournemouth, Liverpool lost 1-0 and we did it against Chelsea and we almost won but we drew with a good performance against Manchester United and you have a lot of example, but I’m not surprised. .”

Defender Ainsley Maitland-Niles is a doubt after he suffered a knock in training which saw him miss the trip to Old Trafford.

Juan Larios and Tino Livramento have been absent for a long time.