Ronald Koeman and Graziano Pelle have celebrated a memorable Saints double, by completing a clean sweep of the Premier League awards for September.

Koeman has beaten stiff competition to claim the manager of the month prize, while Pelle has ousted some of the division’s top stars to take the player gong.

Saints boss Koeman said: “It’s nice, because that means that we – not I – did a good job in the month of September.

“But it’s behind us, and I’m always looking forward.

“But it’s nice as a compliment for me as the manager, for the technical staff, and for Graziano as the player.

“Together we had a good start of the season, but it’s only the start of the season.”

Koeman beat fellow shortlisted candidates Jose Mourinho, Nigel Pearson and Neil Warnock, after guiding Saints to three Premier League wins out of three during September - a series of results that pushed them up to second in the table.

Pelle netted three goals in the same period – including his wonder strike against QPR – to edge out teammate Morgan Schneiderlin, Manchester United’s Angel Di Maria, Leicester’s Leonardo Ulloa, West Ham’s Diafra Sakho and Crystal Palace’s Mile Jedinak.

Koeman was the clear winner with an almost unanimous sweep of votes from the Barclays Panel - a group of football experts from the media, football administration and ex-players.

In a much closer race, Pelle beat Leicester striker Ulloa, who also scored three times in September, by a single vote.

Koeman is the fifth Saints boss to win the Premier League award, following on from Dave Merrington, Graeme Souness, Harry Redknapp and, last October, Mauricio Pochettino.

James Beattie was the last Saint to win player honours, back in November 2002.

Koeman hopes they will be the first of many prizes to come.

“Yes, but I prefer to win another trophy at the end of the season, but we have to wait for that,” he said.