Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has taken a jab at his rival Louis van Gaal by suggesting that Manchester United are easier to play against than Arsenal.

Koeman fell out with his fellow Dutchman more than 10 years ago when he was manager of Ajax and Van Gaal was director of football at the Eredivisie club.

Van Gaal was accused of interfering too much with Koeman's training regime, and it seems as though the pair have not yet mended their relationship.

Ahead of tonight's match against Arsenal at the Emirates, Koeman said that his Southampton team face a tough challenge compared to when they faced United recently.

Charlie Austin came off the bench on his debut to give the Saints a 1-0 win over the Red Devils at Old Trafford.

"It's a different test because football-wise, attacking-wise, to stop Arsenal is more difficult than, with all the respect, to stop Manchester United," the Manchester Evening News quotes Koeman as saying. "Defensive wise we need to be very good, because they have some great players.

"We will get space [against Arsenal], then it's always what you do with that space. We got it in the first half against Manchester United and we didn't play really well in the final part of attacking."

Southampton are currently eighth in the Premier League table, four points behind fifth-placed United.