Mauricio Pochettino is revelling in an ‘excellent 2014’ for his side as they made it back-to-back away wins to climb to eighth in the table.

Jose Fonte’s goal saw Saints collect another three points on the road, this time a 1-0 victory at Hull.

It followed up nicely on their 3-0 romp at Fulham on their last outing away from St Mary’s and also made it eight matches unbeaten in all competitions, including six in the Premier League.

The only game they have lost in 2014 came on New Year’s Day as they were beaten by Chelsea, who are now top the table, at Stamford Bridge.

A delighted Pochettino said: “We are having a 2014 that is excellent.

“We are having great performances, the team is playing very well and overall we are very happy with the performances of the team as of late.

“I want again to congratulate the players because we have a short squad, not that many players in the squad.

“We also have a lot of young players who are still learning and in light of that we are playing very well and we are very happy about that.”

The result saw Saints leapfrog Newcastle into eighth place in the Premier League table.

The Magpies play this evening, as do Manchester United who are now in Saints’ sights.

David Moyes’ side are in seventh just two points ahead of Pochettino’s men, who now have an FA Cup fifth round tie at Sunderland to contend with before they return to league action with another away game, this time at West Ham.

“I think the victory is fully deserved on a very tough pitch against very tough opposition,” said Pochettino of the win over Hull.

“We were fully superior to Hull, a team that has invested quite a bit during the transfer window, and I think overall with the performance of the team we fully deserved to get the three points.”