Ronald Koeman has warned that Stoke City will be a tough nut to crack when they visit St Mary's on Saturday.
Ronald Koeman has spoken of how Stoke City will be no pushovers in Saturday's Premier League fixture, only Saints and Arsenal have better records over the last six Premier League games than the Potters and in their last three league games away from home they have won two and drawn the third.
However the good news is that in those games they were not exactly facing the top teams, in their last road trip they drew 0-0 at Newcastle and to be frank were battered and it took an inspired display from keeper Jack Butland to keep the clean sheet.
The previous two games saw single goal victories at both Swansea and Aston Villa, so there is the suggestion that their good current form is as much the case of meeting the right teams at the right times, rather than great performances, however they have proved their resilience as Ronald Koeman attests.
"They are tough to beat, It's a strong team and they have good away performances this season.
"They played six away games, they lost only one and they conceded only five goals, and that's very good and that means it will be difficult for us to beat them.
"But we know we have a good competition with them, because I think finally on the end of the season it will be close between Southampton and Stoke City.”
The Saints manager is also aware of how Mark Hughes has changed Stoke's style a little, they still retain their steely core but have added something else, moulding strength with technical ability.
"I think how he was as a player and how he is as a coach, his team play always with a high intensity,”
"They give you really the battles on the midfield and it's sometimes a physical part of football, but they also signed some new players, some technical good players like [Xherdan] Shaqiri, like [Marco] van Ginkel, [Ibrahim] Afellay, and that's a little bit different than Stoke was last season.”