GARY O’Neil is confident Cherries will produce a “real good defensive display” at St Mary’s tonight, after a “little wake-up call” in defeat to West Ham United.

Dealing with set-pieces has been a theme throughout the season for Cherries, conceding from two more corners as Hammers ran out 4-0 victors at Vitality Stadium on Sunday.

Cherries have now conceded 20 times from set-pieces this season, more than any other club in the division.

Tonight, O’Neil’s men head along the south coast to face a side with arguably the best deliverer of a dead ball in the league, in England international James Ward-Prowse.

Asked if it will be particularly pertinent in this fixture to avoid giving away fouls to give Saints the chance to get the ball into the box, Cherries’ boss told the Daily Echo: “The plan for the West Ham game was to try and make sure we dominate the ball and reduce (set-pieces).

“I think they only had five corners, but we still managed to concede two from them.

“Of course, we never want to give away those set-plays.

“James Ward-Prowse has got good delivery. I believe the structure that we have from set-plays and the organisation will be good.

“I think the players have a real understanding of what is expected when the ball comes in the penalty area. I’m confident that we’ll see a real good defensive display.”

Much of the questioning put to O’Neil in his press conference on Wednesday afternoon centred around his side needing to show more aggression than they did in defeat on Sunday.

“Against West Ham, we faced a team that are very good at that,” he began.

“And we have struggled to deal with aspects of that for a large part of the season, balls into the box or direct play, having to deal with set-plays.

“That hasn’t been our biggest strength this season, so I was aware the West Ham game would test us in that nature. I thought we would have control and we would have opportunities to build and try and break down their low block and would have to create four or five good opportunities to cause them problems and give ourselves a chance.

“But the fact that we suffered so badly from some of the basics really – being able to compete and put your head on things – meant that the rest of the game was sort of irrelevant.

“Because if I was sitting here talking with no emotion and we were watching the game back, there were loads of good bits in there, which all become irrelevant because we were so poor at certain aspects.

“So, we need to make sure we improve those certain aspects. This will be a different test to West Ham, but I made the lads well aware instantly that we need to be better than that.

“It's not too many times this year that I’ve had to say that to them, but the levels need to be raised for Thursday.”

Asked how aggressive his players need to be for a game like the one they face tonight, against local neighbours sitting bottom of the table, O’Neil added: “It’s just controlled aggression.

“You need to compete. Football is not always won with the ball and playing through your shape and having people in certain positions.

“There are certain parts of a football match that there is emotion and desire and things that are not really coachable, that make a big difference.

“I remember those when I was playing. They are just something and it’s hard to put your finger on exactly what it is, but you need it in every single game, because no matter how well you play, if the other team are going to be more aggressive when the ball lands in your six-yard box, then you’re going to concede a goal.

“We need to make sure that we get better at that and we will, 100 per cent. The lads are well aware.

“As always, the lads will respond the best they can and I’m confident we go to Southampton and we see a real good performance from our players and hopefully that’s enough to get us the result.”

Quizzed on the concerning set-piece stat, O’Neil said: “We work hard on set-plays.

“To be fair, since we’ve changed structure, we’ve conceded a lot less.

“But you could put a team in any structure and if the opposition are going to be better at heading it than you are then it’s not always going to help you.

“There’s loads of stuff there that we need to improve, there always will be. But there was a real magnifying glass put over it on Sunday because of the nature of the test and because we conceded two headers within 12 minutes and made the rest of the game almost impossible for ourselves.

“It was a little wake-up call, if anyone needed one, that we’re still in a real relegation scrap and it needs to look like that with our performances.”