Former Saints defender Garry Monk is hoping to strengthen his chances of landing the Swansea manager’s job on a permanent basis by masterminding a victory over his old club this weekend.

Monk is in temporary charge of the Swans after the departure of Michael Laudrup and has guided them to Premier League safety.

There is a growing clamour for him to land the role on a full time basis, and Monk is open about his ambitions.

“When you look at the circumstances in which I took it on, I will probably never have to deal with a more difficult situation in terms of experience of doing it, coming in when I did and dealing with everything on top of that,” said Monk.

“That has stood me in good stead and I have learned a hell of a lot.

“But it’s been great and I’ve really enjoyed it.

And once you get that taste of it of course you want more.

“I wouldn’t lie to anyone, I want to take the club forward and that’s the conversation I’ll have with the chairman.”

He added: “We were low on confidence, in a poor position and not getting the right results.

“There were the group dynamics to think about too – everything.

“You have to pick the players up and put belief back into them over their playing and it hasn’t been easy.

“We’ve had some good results, some indifferent ones.

“But in general the performance levels have been really good for me and, thankfully, now all the fruits of that are coming through.”

Swansea round off their season with the visit of Saints on Saturday and then a game against Sunderland.

It is a couple of final opportunities for Monk to stake his claim for the job.

“I believe in my own ability and I’ve been thinking about this for a number of years now,” said the ex-Saints man.

“I have always thought about going into coaching and management since I was young and prepared for it properly.

“I can only put myself in the frame and see what they say.”

Swansea are likely to be without Angel Rangel for this weekend’s game against Saints, with the full back having picked up an injury.