Saints qualifying for the Champions League might seem like an impossible dream, but Toby Alderweireld knows as well as anyone at the club that those can sometimes come true.

It was last season that the defender was part of an Atletico Madrid side that stunned football by toppling both Barcelona and Real Madrid to win La Liga, while also coming within seconds of claiming Europe’s elite club competition.

Saints themselves have punched above their weight against teams with vastly superior budgets this season, and they now have their own opportunity in their last ten games to accomplish something historic.

“I think we can do it,” said Alderweireld.

“We have a good group, a young group. The desire is big.

“They really want to improve themselves and to achieve something. That’s the feeling you have to have.

“We have a great team spirit. We play well as a team. We don’t have selfish players.

“If we get a good level for the next ten games, we can have a special season.”

Alderweireld still recalls how Atletico – the club he is on loan from – drove themselves on last season.

“The desire to win was so big, from all the team,” he said. “Even the guys on the bench. It was just a team.

“The desire was so big to prove that we could be champion and, like I said, game by game – not ‘Ah, if we win this...’

“You don’t look to other teams, just win your own games and prepare yourselves the best way you can.”

So does he sense a similar desire at Saints, ahead of the run-in?

“Yeah, we have a lot of young players that want to show themselves in the group. They work very hard.

“A lot of questions they say ‘You get a lot of clean sheets,’ but it’s not about me, it’s not about Jose [Fonte], it’s not about Clyney (Nathaniel Clyne) – it’s just the whole team who are working so hard to make it easier for each other and that’s the way we have to play.

“Then we can beat the big teams.”

Saints will certainly face one of those tomorrow, as they travel to league leaders Chelsea.

“I think we have to go Sunday with a lot of confidence in ourselves,” said Alderweireld.

“We have to try to play our football that we like to play, that we’re used to play, and then we can get the result. 

“It’s going to be a very tough game, because they have a lot of world class players, but I have confidence in our team, and I think we can beat them.”

Alderweireld knows many of the Chelsea players well. He was teammates at Atletico with Filipe Luis and Diego Costa, while his Belgium international colleagues Thibaut Courtois and Eden Hazard are also at Stamford Bridge.

Alderweireld rates Hazard as the best player he’s ever faced in the Premier League, but he will also have his hands full with the division’s top scorer, Costa, who he has marked plenty of times in training.

Asked about the fiery frontman, the Saints centre-back said: “That’s his mentality. Outside the field he’s totally different – he’s a very nice guy.

“Only on the field he’s just like winning, that’s the only thing that matters. He wants to fight, because he wants to win.

“I think it’s a little bit from South America, Brazilian people, their desire is so big.

“The only thing that’s in their mind is winning, and the rest he doesn’t care.”

Costa will have a tough test himself, though, with Alderweireld set to return for the first time since he injured his hamstring in the 1-0 win at Manchester United in early January.

“Those two months were very hard for me,” said the 26-year-old, who has been one of the finest defenders in the Premier League this season.

“I always want to be on the field and to play football, so it was very difficult, but I worked very hard to come back stronger and as quickly as possible, so here I am.”

For Saints, there could not be many better sights than that as they embark on their run-in.