Alan Pardew hopes his side will show how far they've come on Tuesday night against Huddersfield.
A 3-1 defeat at the Galpharm stadium back in August exposed a gap between the two teams, but the manager wants his team to prove that the shortfall no longer exists.
"You could also argue that we have come a long, long way in terms of getting closer to them," he told Saints Player. "They absolutely waltzed past us, they were fitter, stronger, better technically than us on the day and could have won by more, but I don't reckon that will be the case on Tuesday and it will be a good game."
The Londoner witnessed his side convincingly dispatch Walsall at St. Mary's on Saturday where he saw the true capabilities of the Saints team bear fruit.
"I think it was a good statement for our fans of what we are doing. We've recruited good players who have bedded in very well, but we need to harden up as a team and know how to win certain games.
"On Saturday we were strong throughout the ninety minutes, and especially for seventy minutes we were excellent. That isn't going to happen every week, but ten minutes of our best can be good enough at some of these venues. At Wycombe we didn't really have ten minutes, we had two minutes and that isn't enough, so in difficult surfaces and difficult scenarios we have to be better.
"We have a tougher opposition on Tuesday, it will be very different game, but twenty minutes of what we did on Saturday against them will create a goal, maybe two."
Pardew is aware of the threat that the Terriers pose, but is sure that the visitors will need to be more wary of his men at St. Mary's.
"He (Lee Clark) is a young manager and he has done well. I like his manner and I like the way his team play, he's doing terrifically well.
"Their strikers are both good players, but in Radhi and Fonte we have two excellent centre halves and we have Seaborne on the sidelines who might be important. He's got a turn of pace and a left foot that we might need at some point in that game, but Fonte was absolutely different class on Saturday. You need those type of players against these dangerous strikers.
"You have to say that this four game period is more or less quite important on where we are going to end up, because we are probably going to need to win three of them. They are against the top teams so it makes it even more difficult, but they are at home and I fancy us at home against anyone.
"I know that this is a good enough team. I don't know if we are going to make it (to the play-offs), but we need to win as many games as we can. We will need a bit of luck and a bit of luck with results probably as well, but it can happen, I've seen it happen. My experience tells me to win the next game and see what happens then."
