Ronald Koeman believes Southampton must fight to achieve a top-four finish this season, but sees little difference between his side's style and the Premier League's "big clubs."
Despite a summer of upheaval which saw Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Luke Shaw, Rickie Lambert and manager Mauricio Pochettino depart St Mary's, Koeman has defied expectations with the Saints currently sitting second in the table.
The south coast club trail league leaders Chelsea by four points, and while Koeman admitted earlier in November his side will not be title challengers, he is optimistic they can push for a Champions League qualifying spot after beating Leicester 2-0 on Saturday.
"The lads are doing fantastic, it is amazing how they work every day and how they have the spirit," he told the club's official website. "It is really a team and they show that every week. In the last few weeks maybe the wins are more difficult but we are Southampton: we are not Man City; we are not Chelsea; maybe sometimes they win easily.
"We have to fight. We know our qualities but that makes a difference, it is another clean sheet and that is very positive. We played only 11 games but the big teams maybe have more quality players than we have, but I don't see a lot of difference between the big clubs and how they play and us. We can keep this surprise in the season.
"I don't watch who is behind [in the table]. We have our focus on the way we play and that was important. That wins us games, that brings us points. We don't have players to play the long ball, sometimes the opponents press well, but we have to play.
"Everybody is enjoying how we are playing and how we are doing. The same for the technical staff here, we enjoy it very much, but we know what is football and we know have to keep working. Nothing is impossible."
The Saints have the best defensive record in the top flight after conceding just five goals in 11 games, and Koeman was quick to praise his back line after another clean sheet on Saturday.
"They are doing fantastic," he added. "Always the defending is teamwork but of course we have a fantastic goalkeeper [Fraser Forster], we have four very good defenders.
"Ryan Bertrand is playing on a very high level, and [Nathaniel] Clyne we know it is not a surprise that he is selected for the [England] national team and [Toby] Alderweireld and Jose [Fonte] together as the centre-backs are fantastic.
"It is international players. We also have a strong midfield because we have to understand that [Victor] Wanyama is physical in the midfield, he is winning battles and that is important for the team.
"We hope, it will be fantastic but we live game by game and we have to work hard to keep these wins and these points. I'm not looking too much to the rest of the teams, maybe only in the aspect that I don't see until now teams much better than Southampton."