Saints star dismisses relegation talk

Southampton midfielder Stuart Armstrong says it is too early to claim his side are involved in a relegation battle. The St Mary’s club have lost eight of their opening 12 Premier League games so far and sit second bottom in the table – three points adrift of safety.
Manager Ralph Hasenhuttl is under real pressure and is the favourite to be the next manager to leave his post with the bookmakers, although the latest reports claim he has the full backing the club’s board at present.
Saints’ home form has been particularly alarming as they have managed just one point from six games so far, but Armstrong doesn’t think there should be any talk of a relegation battle at this stage of the season. “We certainly need to get some points out of them because nobody wants to be towards the bottom of the table,” he told the Daily Echo. “Points are very important for us at the moment. I think it’s still very early days [to think about relegation]. A lot of things can change in football because it’s a very transient game.”
Southampton slipped to a 2-1 loss at home to Everton last weekend but the margin of defeat could have been much bigger had it not been for some wasteful finishing from the visitors.
Everton managed to create 24 chances to Saints’ four on Saturday, and Hasenhuttl has some work to do over the international break to improve his side’s defence.
Saints have the worst record at the back in the Premier League with 29 goals conceded, although a 9-0 thrashing at the hands of Leicester has skewed that particular statistic.
Armstrong says Southampton will look to “regroup” during the international break ahead of their next Premier League game, a tough trip to Arsenal on November 23.