Ronald Koeman felt his Southampton side had some improving to do after they forced a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa on Monday night.
The Saints maintained second position on the Premier League table thanks to Nathaniel Clyne's powerful 81st-minute striker which cancelled out Gabriel Agbonlahor's first-half opener.
The draw extended Southampton's unbeaten streak to five matches and has them firmly entrenched in the top four where Koeman feels they can remain until season's end if they continue their positive early-season progress.
"Yes of course, but first we have to play better than we did," he told Sky Sports.
"Everybody knows that the Premier League is a battle every game and there are big teams but they are struggling as well.
"If we keep going and keep our spirit like we showed - we had great character and we showed great patience in the second half - then I think it's possible because I don't see many teams better than Southampton.
"It's a nice week to play and we live game to game with three big teams.
"In this game Aston Villa had some key players injured, maybe [that made them] are more dangerous and it was difficult.
"We didn't reach the level we can reach and we must reach that to be competitive against City on Sunday."
