Van Dijk concerned by Saints start

Southampton currently sit in the Premier League’s bottom three and Virgil van Dijk admits they need to find their form quickly, even if there was frustration at the weekend’s loss to Arsenal.

The Saints looked to be on course for a valuable point away at the Emirates Stadium, only for a controversial last-minute penalty to be awarded against Jose Fonte for a challenge on Olivier Giroud.

That leaves Southampton with two points from four games so far this season under new boss Claude Puel.

And, as they prepare for Europa League football this week, the Dutchman knows they are running out of time to get things right.

(Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

He said: “We need to step up.

“The Europa League starts again on Thursday, and we need to be ready for that and hopefully be ready for [Sunday’s] game against Swansea.

“I’m a winner and I want to win and to lose like this is hard. We need to blame ourselves because we had the opportunities and we should have done better.”

While Van Dijk was keen to look ahead, he admitted there was some frustration in the Southampton dressing room at the loss to the Gunners, and particularly the spot-kick converted by Santi Cazorla.

“It was pretty strange and there were players on our side who were also looking a bit confused,” he added.

“Giroud was saying there was contact from both and it can’t be a penalty. It’s a big decision in the last minute of the game. It’s not in our favour and it hurts.”