CLAUDE Puel has hailed his goalkeeper Fraser Forster after two cleansheet, stating that he believes the England international strikes fear into opponents.

He also praised Saints for their recent defensive performances, which have seen them go on a run of three games without conceding.

Puel has worked with goalkeepers of such standing as France number one and Tottenham stopper Hugo Lloris when he was manager of Lyon.

But the French manager hasn’t come across many keepers with such an enormous physical presence between the sticks as Saints’ England international.

The St Mary’s chief says “you see him and you’re afraid” when talking about the towering 6ft 7inch Forster.

After keeping three successive cleansheets, Saints are now aiming for another at West Ham today.

Forster has recorded two shutouts against Sparta Prague and Swansea before understudy Alex McCarthy kept Crystal Palace out on Wednesday night in the 2-0 League Cup win.

“I think Fraser has different qualities to Lloris, they are not the same but two very good goalkeepers,” said Puel.

"Lloris for example likes to go out of his goal but Fraser likes to stay on his line with big stature.

“He can take up all of the goal and it’s difficult to score against Fraser, he’s very tall and you see him and you’re afraid. He is a very good goalkeeper.

“The defence though is all of the team. If we see the work of Fraser since the beginning of the season, he has not had to make many saves in the game because all the team is strong with a good organisation.

"This is very important. For me, the team defends well as a team. It comes from all of the team and the reaction.

"It’s the same in attack. I would like at the end of the season to have 14 or 15 different players to have scored in the Premier League. All the team attack and all of the team defend.”