Ronald Koeman will not be celebrating Saints reaching second place in the Premier League – but he says it is great news for everyone who loves the club.

Saturday’s 1-0 win at Swansea pushed the team close to the summit of the table, with Chelsea the only side above them.

Saints are now in the highest position they have ever held in the Premier League, while they have not enjoyed such a lofty top-flight standing since September 1988.

“It’s nice for the fans and for everybody who loves the Saints,” said Koeman, below.

“As the manager, as the technical staff, we have to keep quiet and keep continuing what we are doing until now.

“Tuesday is the next and there is no time to celebrate or watch the list too much, but football changes always very fast.

“You have to prepare yourself in that way, but, okay, the start is fantastic for us.”

Saints have now won three league games on the spin, although their latest one was far less comfortable than the 4-0 thumping of Newcastle in their previous outing.

Swansea were well on top in the first half, before striker Wilfried Bony was sent off shortly before half-time after picking up two bookings.

Referee Jonathan Moss’ decision swung the game in Saints’ favour, with Victor Wanyama’s late goal earning them the three points.

“It was a different win, a tough one, a difficult one, against a strong Swansea and, okay, after the 11 v 10 it changed,” said Koeman.

“Always that kind of decision, a referee’s red card, is difficult for one (team), but maybe a little bit better for the other team.

“After that, okay, we had the patience to have the ball possession and to wait and create the possibilities.

“We scored a great goal, and that was enough for three points.”

Koeman added: “I think the most difficult in the beginning was that we lost too many balls. Maybe we lost in five minutes more balls than we lost last week in 90 minutes.

“We had some problems with the rotation of the midfield of Swansea and it was difficult. We didn’t create, we didn’t win the second ball and it was very difficult.”

Even with the extra man, Koeman admitted Saints did not find it easy.

“We didn’t create a lot, but we had a lot of pressure to them and if you keep being patient then always we are able to score,” he said.

“I said in half-time to the boys that the worst result is 0-0 – wait for the moment, and take patience to wait for the real good moments to create, and we didn’t do that often, but one or two times it was enough.”

The Saints boss added his belief that Moss had made the game difficult for both teams because of some of his early decision-making.

“It wasn’t a very tough game, but if you show in the beginning yellow cards then you have to keep going like that, and that was a problem,” he said.

“I think it was for both teams sometimes difficult to understand the decisions.”