Steven Davis believes that an eighth placed finish and EFL Cup final appearance would be a respectable season for Saints – but insists the squad want more.

The Northern Ireland midfielder is hoping his side can finish the campaign well to overhaul West Brom and finish in eighth.

Most neutrals would regard that as a decent season for Saints, but Davis is adamant that inside the club the bar is set higher.

He said: “I think there a lot of positives at the club. The foundations of the club are excellent.

“There's always going to come a point where after progressing from League One, when you continue on that upward curve, there's going to come a point where it slows a little bit.

“And with changes throughout the team and the management over the last number of years, it's been unbelievable that we've managed to keep that upwards curve.

“But if we go on and finish the season strongly and get ourselves in that eighth position, then we can look back it and say it's been an OK season.

“We got to the Cup Final, with European experience and a decent league position, but we all want more than that."

It has been a season with a fair number of frustrations for Saints, but Davis thinks that minor details have been the issue rather than the bigger picture.

"Listen, there have been highs and lows, but I just don't think we've been able to get that same level of consistency that we've shown in the last couple of years,” he reckoned.

"We've had other factors to deal with, with the cup run and Europe. I'm sure we will take the experience from it all and it will stand us in good stead in the future.

"There have been a lot of games where we've felt frustrated. There have been certain games where we have not hit the performance levels we would have liked. There have been certain games where we've played well, but not got the results we wanted.

“It's small details that get you results over the course of a campaign, but we have to take the positives and we'll take as much from this campaign as we can."

Davis also brushed off speculation over the future of manager Claude Puel, and refused to look to that as an excuse for any below par performances or results.

"Not really to be honest,” he said when asked whether it had been unsettling.

“I've been in the game long enough and ever since I've come to the club, we've had speculation about the manager and players at different times. That's part and parcel of football."