SOUTHAMPTON manager Mauricio Pellegrino said the job Sean Dyche had done at Burnley was 'outstanding'.

The two bosses go head-to-head at St Mary's today and while Pellegrino and Dyche are yet to meet, the new Saints chief is in no doubt how well his Clarets counterpart has done, taking Burnley to seventh in the Premier League this season.

"I don't know him personally but I know how he has been working in the last few seasons with his team, how they are growing," Pellegrino said.

"His job is outstanding, thinking about a team that are really humble, working and playing with an identity, it's something that is really difficult to build.

"It's part of the process, the transition, when you keep the same ideas in the long term always you get results."

The Southampton boss has played down the importance of beating Burnley ahead of a daunting run of Premier League fixtures.

Saints have managed a steady start to the season under the Argentinian and are currently 10th in the table having taken 13 points from their opening 10 games.

After hosting the Clarets on Saturday, their 10 remaining matches of 2017 include trips to Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United, as well as home games against Everton and Arsenal.

However, coach Pellegrino does not believe the tricky forthcoming challenges add any extra pressure to take three points at St Mary's this weekend.

"Not for me, because it is for everyone," he replied when asked if the game was particularly significant for Southampton.

"We have got points in the last three games and it's another opportunity to keep improving and convert these performances into points.

"OK, in the future we play against the biggest teams in the Premier League but we don't know (how those games will go).

"I'm really happy about that because, for me as a manager, to play against the biggest teams is something that we have to enjoy and I would like to see my players like we played against Man U (a 1-0 loss on September 23), we played really well.

"You don't know, competition in football, it's an opportunity to show how we are and we have to show every single week."