CENTRE-BACK Jan Bednarek has admitted that it’s ‘difficult when you see the gap getting bigger’ after defeat to Manchester City left Saints with only eight games to save their Premier League status.

Hardly the greatest surprise, Saints were swept aside by Man City despite a promising opening half, and while the distance to safety remains at four points, Bednarek and his side are on the brink of being cut adrift in the relegation battle.

Following victories over the weekend for Crystal Palace, Wolves, West Ham, and Bournemouth, there are now only three other teams within four points of Saints - Leicester in 19th, Nottingham Forest in 18th, and Everton in 17th.

With fixtures still to play against Arsenal, Newcastle, Brighton, and Liverpool - the first of those three all away from home - failure to beat Crystal Palace on Saturday could spell the end of Saints’ realistic survival chances. 

READ MORE: 'No conviction' - Bednarek laments Saints scoring struggles after Man City chance

“It’s difficult when you see the gap is getting bigger,” Bednarek admitted after the 4-1 loss to Man City. 

“But I think we just have to stay positive. We are a very young team, we are learning a lot, we have a very good coach. We just have to learn and live with it. It’s tough for everyone, we want to get results, and hopefully, next week we can do it.”

Saints made life difficult for Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions in the first half at St Mary’s, in particular keeping Premier League top scorer Erling Haaland quiet as the Norwegian racked up the fewest touches of any player on the pitch through 44 minutes.

But on the stroke of half-time, Haaland latched onto Kevin De Bruyne’s cross to head City in front before Jack Grealish doubled their advantage after the interval. Haaland then added a third with an acrobatic finish to finish the contest in earnest.

“Every Premier League team has a lot of quality, every team has very good strikers,” Bednarek said of the challenge of coming up against Haaland who now has 30 Premier League goals in his maiden campaign in England. 

“We can’t be too concerned about the opposition. Of course, we have to analyse them, have to know their strengths and weaknesses and this is what we try to do. 

“We have to go into the game with a game plan and focus on what we can do. I think in the first half we did our plan very well, we knew what to do, I think we were very good but 45 minutes is not enough.”

Crystal Palace will arrive at St Mary's with renewed momentum of their own under Roy Hodgson following last weekend's 5-1 win at Elland Road.