Thursday, 30th October, 2014
Former Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour believes Southampton are good enough to finish in the top six in the Premier League this season.
Southampton saw an exodus of players in the summer, with some of their top performers leaving the club, which resulted in Ronald Koeman inheriting a broken team from former boss Mauricio Pochettino.
The Dutchman’s astute work in the transfer market saw the likes of Graziano Pelle and Dusan Tadic join the club to compensate for the loss of quality performers.
And against all expectations the Saints have made a fantastic start to the new season and are currently second in the league table behind Chelsea, ahead of the much-fancied Manchester clubs, and Arsenal and Liverpool.
And Parlour cannot help but marvel at Koeman’s work that saw the club turn around a potentially disastrous season, and credits the Dutchman for forging a strong team spirit in his squad in a very short period of time.
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Though there is still a long way to go in the season, the former midfielder has backed the Saints to finish in the top six.
"If you talk about team spirit, then you should look no further than Southampton", the former Arsenal man told Dutch daily De Telegraaf.
“They lost a number of top players in the summer but look who they have brought in. Pelle and Tadic have been phenomenal.
“There are some tough games ahead of them so I am curious to see how they go about their job but I expect them to finish in the top six.”
The Saints will travel to Hull for their next league fixture on Saturday.
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