Southampton striker Charlie Austin feels they've hurt themselves this season.

After finishing eighth last year and reaching the Carabao Cup final, Saints have endured a dismal campaign as they have won only five games in the Premier League.

Austin stated: "Am I surprised? Yes, but we have under-performed and if you do that in the Premier League you find yourself slipping away.

"You say 'it won't happen to us, it won't happen to us, it won't happen to us' and the next minute you are in the bottom three. We have won five games, that's not good enough for a club like Southampton.

"As a group of players, it's been naive, thinking we can just turn up and it will happen - 'we'll be ok, we've got the players to get out of this mess' - and as the weeks have gone by we haven't made any progress.

"The bar has been set for Southampton over the last few years. Even last year we finished eighth and got to a cup final, which we were unlucky not to win. It's a learning curve for the players and the club but I feel if we stay in the Premier League it will be a good lesson learned for the club and the players. When you are in positions like this you do see who is hiding and who's not."