Southampton the easiest club to fit into - Austin

January signing Charlie Austin says that Southampton has been the easiest club he has had to fit into.

The striker arrived at St. Mary's for a fee believed to be in the region of £4m in January from Queens Park Rangers and was regarded as one of the best buys of the transfer window. Austin says that he feels like he's been at the club longer than the month and half that he has thanks to the welcoming nature of the people at the club.

He told Southampton's official YouTube channel: "This has been the easiest group to come in and fit in. The lads have been superb.

"I settled in really well. I think it helped that I scored the winner at Manchester United! Regardless of that, the lads are superb and very welcoming to me."

Austin spent the pre-season of the 2009-10 season on trial at AFC Bournemouth during Eddie Howe's first spell at the club, an experience that the striker believes got him to where he is today and is full of praise for the Cherries.

"I think that gave me the stepping stone to where I went onto Swindon. I’ve always said if I didn’t go there for six weeks and train, I don’t think it would’ve given me the foundations to move on up the leagues.

"When I went there, they worked on a lot of things on and off the training pitch with me. They brought me on as a man. I was delighted to work with them but come Tuesday night, hopefully I can get three points over them.

"You look at the performances that they’ve put in, they’ve been eye-catching. They’re very attacking going forward. We know what we can try and do to win the game."

After netting the winner eight minutes into his debut at Old Trafford, Austin has had to settle with appearances off the bench with Shane Long in fine form. However, the former Swindon Town and Burnley player made his full debut in the 2-1 loss against Chelsea at the weekend. But a win against Bournemouth tonight will allow the Saints to forget about the weekend, according to the 26-year-old.

"It was nice to get my first start. Unfortunately we didn’t get the right result. We put in a good performance. We’re just disappointed we didn’t come away with the result.

"I think if we can take in what we've done over the last six games into Tuesday night, hopefully we can come away with three points and push on up the league.

"We’re not going to go there and do anything apart from come away with three points. If we can get three points, we can forget about the weekend."