Ronald Koeman has insisted that he is ready for the busy schedule that his Southampton side will face in the coming weeks.

The Saints will play eight Premier League fixtures before the end of 2014, including Monday's match against Aston Villa, and also have a League Cup quarter-final coming up next month.

In an interview for the club's YouTube channel, the manager said: "Everybody knows from now until the beginning of January we will play a lot of games, a lot of difficult ones, and we play in the quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup, it is a tough programme, but I'm ready for it.

"My only message is to the players, not to the other people, of course we would like to continue but we have to believe in our way of playing, that's the most important thing.

"We know about our programme but everybody knows about the Premier League, it is not easy. All of them are difficult and playing Manchester City or Burnley for me is no different. We would like to keep going on what we did in the past this season, that means we have to focus on the next one and that is Aston Villa, after that we will see."

Koeman's side sit second in the Premier League table.