Dusan Tadic can allow Saints to dream of a top six finish if he continues his current form.

Ronald Koeman insists there is nothing wrong with dreaming and hoping for a season which would see Saints secure a European place via their league position.

But he also knows he needs his star men to deliver if that is to be the case.

One of the driving forces will have to be Tadic, the £10m midfield star who tore Sunderland apart last weekend and who Koeman believes could end up with more assists than any other Premier League star this season.

“Dreaming is not bad because always you dream about something nice,” smiled Koeman, whose side welcome Stoke to St Mary’s this afternoon.

“We are in a good way now but we know other teams are strong to bring a good battle to be one of the first six in the league.“OK, we will see, game by game, and I think that’s the best way to reach the highest position in the table.”

Of Tadic he added: “He has that talent of course and he played out of position with a lot of freedom he can be the player with the most assists, it’s possible, but compared to Tadic you have other great players in other teams and they as well can be one of them.

“If you have one top scorer in the team, one player who makes the most assists then it’s a big possibility then you are in the top of the table.

“Like Pelle it was a bit difficult in the beginning but that’s normal to adapt to the way of playing and to the tempo of the game but always good players they have quality to adapt in a fast way and he’s an important player.“OK he’s a player who can score goals but his best quality is doing assists and it’s a great few in a game and a fantastic player.

“These are players who play in a good position, clever players, and it isn’t normal 8-0 but it isn’t normal to make four assists in one game.“The qualities of Dusan are fantastic.”

Koeman thinks Saints have benefitted from not having European commitments while some other sides that you would expect to be in the top four have struggled thus far.

However, he is also realistic enough to point out that Saints do not have the depth of squad that some of the big guns have.

“They struggle a little bit with results but some have a tough programme with Champions League like Arsenal and Liverpool but until now is not the conclusion, it’s after eight games, but it looks like Chelsea and Man City are the strongest but we will see,” said Koeman.

“If you believe, everything is possible.

“The difference is that they have 24 or 25 players already prepared to play Premier League and teams like Southampton don’t have that.

“We have some young players who maybe will get their chance because they have talent but they don’t have the experience, you are not sure about the Premier League level.

“The biggest teams have so many more players on that level and that’s the difference but we will see.”