Sunderland are back at the Stadium of Light this weekend as the Saints come marching in – and a place out of the bottom three is firmly in their sights.
A sensational display last weekend saw Crystal Palace beaten 4-0 as the Black Cats stunned Selhurst Park, with their magnificent win preceded by a hard-fought point against Tottenham Hotspur.
Just two points now separate the bottom six.
Southampton, meanwhile, sit 13th in the Premier League table following a post-Christmas slump which has seen Claude Puel’s side lose six of their last seven top-flight games.
But the Premier League isn’t their primary focus, and understandably so, with Saints just two weeks away from the EFL Cup final at Wembley Stadium.
Sunderland have impressed at the SoL in recent months tasting defeat on just three occasions since the start of October.
And Southampton have struggled on the road, winning just two Premier League games away from home during the current campaign.
The new additions – Joleon Lescott, Bryan Oviedo and Darron Gibson – impressed on their debuts with the Costa Rican shackling Wilfried Zaha throughout an impressive performance from start to finish.
But the Black Cats did suffer an injury blow with Jack Rodwell suffering a hamstring injury which will rule him out of action for up to three weeks.
John O’Shea and Adnan Januzaj, who were also forced off at Selhurst Park, are fit to face Southampton, but Lee Cattermole, Jan Kirchhoff, Paddy McNair, Duncan Watmore and Victor Anichebe remain sidelined.
Papj Djilobodji serves the third game of a four-match ban.
Virgil van Dijk’s absence comes as a bitter blow to Southampton who are also without fellow mainstay Jose Fonte following the defender’s move to West Ham United.
Charlie Austin is also unavailable due to a shoulder injury with Sofiane Boufal also sidelined.
The sides have already met twice this season – both occasions came at St Mary’s – with the league meeting ending level before Saints edged an EFL Cup tie en route to Wembley.
OTHER INFORMATION
Make sure you don’t miss any of the drama this Saturday buy securing your seat for the Stadium of Light showdown – click here to purchase or for more information.
If you can’t make the game, then don’t fear because we have every base covered with extensive coverage on safc.com and on Twitter by following @SunderlandAFC.
Nick Barnes and Gary Bennett will be ON AIR from 2pm.
