Ronald Koeman has admitted he will be cheering on Bournemouth, Stoke and West Brom on Sunday as Saints bid to secure another shot at European football.

Saints know they need to finish fifth or sixth to guarantee European football. Seventh will mean they are reliant on Manchester United winning the FA Cup while eighth would see them miss out.

While Saints take on Crystal Palace at St Mary’s on the final day, the Cherries travel to United, Stoke host West Ham and Liverpool go to West Brom.

Koeman smiled: “I like to be first a Southampton fan and then after Southampton I support Stoke, then West Brom, and then finally I will support and hope Bournemouth get a win on Old Trafford.

“It is only the big thing for them to miss this season because they did a good job.”

Of the Cherries support, Koeman joked: “We gave them three points when we played over there and they can do something back.”

Saints have been hoping for a return to the Europa League after they crashed out in the qualification stages at the start of this season.

Koeman is taking nothing for granted, but does want the chance to put things right.

“Of course if we get the chance we will do,” he said.

“I did not change a lot in the qualification matches for the Europa League because we like to be part of Europe because for the club it’s amazing and the fans.

“We know the difficulty between the Europa League on a Thursday and the Premier League on a Sunday but I think our squad also for this season and we hope for next season will be strong enough to compete in different competitions.”

A big boost for Saints would be if they could finish in a position which sends them straight into the group stages rather than the qualification system.

“That will be the best because then you get a normal pre-season and together a normal pre-season is the best for the season,” reflected Koeman.

Saints go into the Palace game in seventh place on 60 points.

That was exactly how they finished last season, and both are Premier League era records for the club, meaning they have the chance to go even better this term.

“It’s fantastic. To get that chance is already fantastic and if you reach it it will be incredible,” reflected Koeman.

“We know in football it’s difficult and we spoke about last season being a special one and now one game to go we can beat that record and we can beat the seventh record position on the table. That’s amazing, but let’s first do it and then we have time enough to enjoy what happened this season.”