Saints are hopeful that midfield star Morgan Schneiderlin will be back for their crunch clash at Sunderland.

The Frenchman, the front runner for the Daily Echo Player of the Season award, was forced to sit out the defeat against Tottenham at White Hart Lane through injury.

Schneiderlin picked up a dead leg in training the day before the Spurs game and was replaced in the side by Guly do Prado, with Steven Davis dropping back to fill his usual position alongside Jack Cork in the heart of midfield.

However, Saints are optimistic that Schneiderlin will be fit enough to face The Black Cats on Sunday.

They need all their top resources available for a game they really could do with winning to alleviate any lingering worries over relegation.

Schneiderlin’s importance to the team has been underlined by new statistics produced this week which show he is amongst the top ten tacklers in the whole of Europe.

Across all the major European leagues only six players can better his tackle success rate of 73 per cent.

Bearing in mind that has come across 34 league games as well, with the game at Tottenham only the second the midfielder has missed all season, it is even more impressive.

Only Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal), Javi Martinez (Bayern Munich), Lars Bender (Bayer Leverkusen), Maxime Gonalons (Lyon), Etienne Capoue (Toulouse) and Ramires (Chelsea) can better Schneiderlin’s tackling stats this season.

Saints’ only other injury doubt for Sunderland at this stage is Do Prado who is being assessed by the club’s medical staff after limping off at White Hart Lane in the second half.