Southampton skipper Jose Fonte has refused to call the Saints' season as an underachievement and instead believes that the club could have finished in a Champions League spot.

Asked if there is a slight feeling of regret after losing three of their past five league outings, the captain said: "There is. I don't think we overachieved at all.

"We did a great season, yes, considering everything we went through before, but I really believe we could have gone a little bit higher."

Fonte added: "I think we honestly could have even finished higher. We lost three or four games that we shouldn't really have lost.

"I know this is the Premier League and it's the hardest league in the world and anything can happen, but I really believe that at least four wins we could have got instead of four defeats that we had, and that would have put us you know where - in the Champions League."