James Chester insists that Hull City will rise to the challenge of securing the points required to retain their Premier League status over the next seven games.

Hull head into Saturday's meeting with Southampton just one place and two points above the relegation zone, but Chester claims that the squad are ready to produce their best form under pressure.

"There's certainly pressure, there's no getting away from that," the Wales international told reporters. "There are also five other teams involved in our situation and as a squad we're confident that we can get the points that we need to stay up.

"I think something we have improved on this season is taking points against teams that are doing well higher up the league so we can take confidence from that into the run-in. We've got seven big games coming up.

"We still have the belief – if we didn't there'd be no point turning up. We worked hard to get into this league and to stay up last season. We're not going to give all of that up without a fight."

Hull have not won any of their last five games.