Ronald Koeman has warned his Southampton troops not to take already-relegated Aston Villa lightly on Saturday.

The Saints will be the first side to face Villa since their relegation to the Championship was confirmed by a 1-0 defeat at Manchester United last week.

They remain rooted to the foot of the Premier League table, but Koeman says that winning will be anything but easy.

"This Saturday, it's a difficult one for several reasons," he told his pre-match news conference on Thursday. "They are already relegated, it will be a different atmosphere in the stadium, but more than ever we need to focus on ourselves. We need to take the motivation out of ourselves to play on a good level and to win the game.

"If you don't win, nobody is happy. If you win, maybe for most people it is [expected]. It's always the most difficult to play. It's not easy because they play at home, they need to win the support of the fans back and they will start the game seriously.

"It's all about ourselves and how we go into the game. That's the work we've had to do this week to prepare for the game."

Victory would bring Southampton level on points with Liverpool in seventh.