George Burley believes Saints need two home wins in the next week to keep their promotion bandwagon on track.

After taking four points from their last two away games at Sunderland and Leeds, Saints now find themselves two points outside the top six with home matches against Luton tomorrow and Birmingham next Wednesday to look forward to.

Two wins should see Saints push themselves back into the play-off positions and make the table look far healthier as the Championship season nears the halfway mark.

"You're always going to look at a season as a whole and you're going to have ups and downs and that's been the case so far this season," said Burley, right.

"We've had good runs where we've won four on the trot and then lost three or four away games on the trot.

"Now we've got back on a good run.

"With a new squad trying to formulate new partnerships all over the pitch, and get people used to each other, it's going to be a little bit like that.

"That's maybe the story of the league as a whole.

"We're pleased we're on a decent run, pleased with our last two away games and have now got two home games.

"The last time we had that (against Wolves and Hull earlier this month) we had four points out of six.

"Now we've got to try and get six out of six to keep the momentum going.

"That's never easy in this league, but that's our aim."

Luton have been on a wretched run and Burley knows Saints must really take three points if they are to establish themselves in the top six sooner rather than later.

"It's that type of league where teams seem to go on a very good run and drop away at times and that's been the case at Luton," he said.

"There's been a few things happening off the pitch which maybe hasn't helped them. But they're a big, strong team, very competitive, and it will be a tough game.

"We'll have to be at our best but we're on a run and we're not going to give that up easy.

"We're two points off the top six with two home games coming up and the aim at the end of the next two games is to be in the top six."

The best Saints v Luton previews are in today's Daily Echo