Austin confident Southampton can avoid relegation

Manager Mauricio Pellegrino's side have dropped into the bottom three after a dismal run in which they have won just one of their last 14 league games.

"My gut says we've got a good enough squad to stay in the Premier League but I'm under no illusions that in the Premier League you're given nothing," Austin, who is sidelined with a hamstring injury, told Sky Sports. "We need to perform now.

"We don't want to go to the last day of the season against Manchester City, so hopefully we can get the points we need.

"You can't wait on other results, you need to get the wins and that's the most important thing for us."

Southampton have the opportunity to make up ground in the relegation scrap as all four of their league matches in March are against sides in the bottom half of the table but the club face a difficult run-in.

With Southampton recording just five league wins this campaign, Pellegrino has come under increasing pressure but Austin believes that changing managers will not resolve the club's troubles.

"It's easy to turn on each other, pointing fingers, blame the manager, blame the board," the 28-year-old added. "We don't want any of that, we need to stick together.

"I understand where the fans are coming from but they said this about Claude Puel last year and look what happened.

"We've got to get sustainability at the club. That's how it used to be but first and foremost we need to stay in the Premier League."

Southampton, who are a point adrift of safety, travel to West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup on Saturday before a league trip to Burnley on Feb. 24. (Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)