HARRY REDKNAPP believes Saints now need to pull off the 'greatest of the great escapes' to maintain their 27-year Premiership status.

A dreadful performance saw Saints trounced 4-1 on Redknapp's return to Pompey and stay rock bottom of the table with only three games of the season left.

Redknapp thinks his team are "gone" unless they beat Norwich at St Mary's on Saturday - but stressed he still believes Saints can survive.

He said: "We have got three games left and we have got to win these games. If we do that, we can still stay up. It's not impossible.

"I've got to keep believing and if the players stop believing, we are doomed.

"We have got to keep going. But if we can't beat Norwich, we are gone.

"It can't get much tougher - with three games to go, we are right in amongst it.

"Everyone will write us off and think we are gone, but we're not.

"Somehow or other, we have to pull off a great escape. Maybe the pressure is off, because everyone will think we are done.

"We need the players to be on the front foot and play like their lives depend on it."

Redknapp was in the Fratton Park dressing-room with his players for an hour after the game and emerged to say his job was to rebuild their confidence.

He added: "I was just talking to them and trying to find what it takes to believe.

"I've got to lift them and try to get a bit of confidence in them.

"It's been a long, hard season and there is a lack of confidence and belief - it's very, very quiet and it's not an easy job going in the dressing-room.

"There's no good in me going in there and slating people, because their confidence has been shot all season.

"It's my job to build them up and keep believing in them."