STUART Armstrong believes it’s too early to say Saints are in a relegation battle.

The St Mary’s side are currently languishing in the bottom three following Saturday’s disappointing defeat to Everton.

From Saints’ opening 12 Premier League matches they’ve managed just two wins and a draw, with those victories coming on the road.

Despite this alarming start to the campaign, Armstrong thinks now isn’t the time to be worried.

Speaking to the Daily Echo, the midfielder said: “We certainly need to get some points out of them because nobody wants to be towards the bottom of the table.

“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.

“We will keep believing in ourselves.

“We are a group that believe in ourselves and we go into every game thinking we can do well and get points out of it.”

Saints now have two weeks to think about how they can hit restart and start moving up the table before their trip to Arsenal.

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side have a run of games coming up with teams situated around them including Watford, Norwich and Newcastle.

If they win those matches then things will start to look rosy again, whereas defeats would leave them a mountain to climb if they want to maintain their Premier League status.

Armstrong, who has been called up to represent Scotland over the break, believes Saints have a great opportunity to work out what’s going wrong over the next couple of weeks.

Armstrong added: “As a team that’s something we’ll look at after the international break to regroup going into the next games.

“We will try resurrect ourselves and look forward to getting some points.

“Sometimes when you have a bad result you want a game quickly to make up for it and go again.

“But sometimes a break can give you the chance to take a step back, take a look at things, adjust and start again.”

Armstrong has found himself back in the starting XI after initially struggling to force his way into Hasenhuttl’s plans.

The Scottish international has started the club’s last three games, even slotting in at right wing-back against Everton.

He added: “Everyone wants to play, and everyone wants to play all of the time but sometimes you have to wait for your turn and chance.

“The last few games I’ve been playing and have been enjoying trying to help the team as best as I can.”