SAINTS under-21s boss Adam Asghar is confident they are in the best position to secure their Premier League 2 playoff spot against Manchester United.

Southampton currently sit 16th, the final playoff spot, ahead of facing the Red Devils (15th).

However, 19th-place Aston Villa, who sit two points behind Asghar's side, are capable of catching them on the final day.

Villa must travel to 21st-place Newcastle United, which is an easier game on paper, while Saints need to bounce back from defeat at Chelsea.

"We can't have too much of a hangover because we have a really important game on Monday," the boss admitted after that loss on Friday evening.

"We can take a lot of aspects from the game and I'm sure we will be in a good place to compete.

"We need to be the team we know we can be for 90 minutes to give us the best chance of getting a result against Manchester United.

"We know where we are and the challenge is to keep that, especially when teams want to stifle us. We need to be even better now.

"I've been really pleased with the development of this side."

Asghar had been unable to field a settled team until the final months of the season as the likes of Tyler Dibling and Sam Amo-Ameyaw were regularly involved with senior squads.

Saints had been unbeaten in five with that settled group until their recent 2-0 defeat at Chelsea.

"It's seen players get better and it's been good. The style's been really strong now," Asghar continued. "We look organised. 

"When teams come to disrupt us and give us that respect, we just need to take the lessons as a staff and players.

"But that's hard to do when teams come to frustrate us. It's been a really good learning curve for us.

"We've earned the respect to be the team we need to be. Now we need to have the solutions when that happens."