Manchester City have gone off the boil after a good start to the season and the team should have been placed higher than third in the Premier League table at the end of the year, goalkeeper Joe Hart has said.

City began December in first place, ahead of Leicester City on goal difference, but picked up just seven points from their next five games to slip to third place.

“We are not where we should be right now in the table. We are right in the mix without really playing that well,” Hart told the club's website.

The Sky Blues opened this season's campaign with five successive league wins till mid-September, scoring 11 goals in those games and conceding none.

City have since failed to win a single league game on the road, with their last away victory coming at Crystal Palace more than three months ago.

“We started the season strongly, but we have not been great over the last 12 games or so. The two teams above us (in the table) deserve to be there,” the England international said.

“Without doubt, (we need) to push on, we need to win all our home games and be hard to beat in our away games as well.”

Hart said City were unfortunate not to have taken more than a point against Leicester.

“It is a game we could and should have won but we did not. Kasper Schmeichel did well and made a few good saves, but we maybe should have done better with the chances we had,” he added.

Manuel Pellegrini's men travel to take on eighth-placed Watford, who have won four of their last six games, in the league on Saturday.