RALPH Hasenhuttl admits Saints remain "in danger" of being sucked into a relegation scrap after slipping to defeat against Brighton at St Mary's.

Goals from Lewis Dunk and Leandro Trossard, either side of a Che Adams strike, earned the struggling Seagulls a 2-1 win, their first top-flight triumph against Saints.

Defeat leaves Hasenhuttl's men 14th in the Premier League table, seven points clear of the bottom three with nine games remaining, having won just once in the league since January 4.

That gap could be trimmed by the time Saints are next in top-flight action. They face Bournemouth in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, before the international break with their next Premier League assignment due against Burnley on April 3.

Asked how concerned he is by the threat of relegation, Hasenhuttl said: "When you don’t win games, then you are always in danger.

"At the moment we are struggling at taking points. This is what we have to find back, the way we want to play, the way we want to defend and then it’s not about asking if we are in danger or not."

Quizzed on if he is running out of ideas on how to fix the poor form, the boss added: "I think it’s time to see very clear what is missing and to work on these things.

"Hopefully we have a little bit of time to work on a few things. In the past I was always speaking about how we are missing some automatism in our game and it is getting worse. Hopefully we can use the time to work on these things.

"I think we have shown in the past when we work hard and work on a few things, we are getting better.

"We have to come back to the highest level. This means we have to work on a few parts of our game and this is the challenge for the next weeks."

Discussing the upcoming FA Cup clash at Vitality Stadium, Hasenhuttl said: "It’s like a bonus for us.

"The league is the most important thing, that we are in a good position. We have been in a good position and now we aren’t anymore.

"This is why we are very disappointed."