Ronald Koeman says he is not laughing any more as Saints’ attempts to qualify for the Champions League received another boost as they produced a “better” victory than against Manchester United.

Saints travelled to Newcastle in a week that saw them face three back-to-back away trips to Old Trafford, Ipswich and the north east, and made it a hat-trick of wins with a 2-1 victory at St James’ Park.

After United had briefly overtaken Saints earlier in the day, it ensured at least another fortnight in third place, much to the delight of Koeman in this most marvellous of seasons.

“When I got the question in the pre-season ‘you will be third on the table after 22 games,’ maybe I was laughing,” said Koeman. “But not now.

“We have really a good team, really a good spirit, really a good organisation, and I am not surprised that we are now third on the league.

“We didn’t steal any point. What we get we deserved.”

While the victory at Old Trafford captured the public’s imagination, for its historical context and suddenly a realisation that Saints are a serious Champions League contender this season, the victory against Newcastle has flown under the radar.

However, for Koeman, this was a bigger and better result.

The delighted boss smiled: “I am very happy and very proud of everybody.

“It was a long week, a difficult week. Three games away.

“If you win games that gives players confidence, that gives players spirit what you need to win against Newcastle at home. In my opinion everybody was proud after the win last week against Manchester United because that’s history, that’s a great place to win. It was a long time ago (since Saints last won there).

“I think as a manager the win today was better.

“It was the third game this week, we have some injuries, but if then you keep that spirit and that belief and we didn’t start well the game. We lost some stupid balls in the beginning.

“The 1-0 gave us a lot of confidence. The team was looking very comfortable.

“Unlucky the 1-1. Unlucky. We did it by ourselves.

“The second half was more difficult, I think Newcastle was a little bit the dominant team at that point and we scored a great goal and after that good organisation, defending well. Maybe one or two situations about handball they told me, I don’t know, I didn’t see it so maybe yes maybe no.

“I am very happy about the three points.”