Preview: Southampton vs Sunderland

Saints go into Saturday's fixture off the back of a 1-0 loss against Tottenham at White Hart Lane, and will be looking to get back to winning form when they face Gus Poyet's Sunderland side on Saturday afternoon.

Despite coming off second best against former boss Mauricio Pochettino and his Spurs side, Saints still sit in third place and can consolidate their current position with all three points against the Black Cats.

At current, Southampton have the best defensive record in the league, conceding just five times, with only Arsenal having allowed less shots on goal than Ronald Koeman's side.

Southampton have no fresh injury concerns, with Maya Yoshida set to return to the fold after a spell on the sidelines. James Ward-Prowse and Jay Rodriguez remain sidelined with long-term injuries. However, Sadio Mané's involvement may be cast into doubt by the fact the winger is only due to return from international duty with Senegal late on Thursday.

Sunderland will be without full-back Billy Jones, who misses out after a muscle injury sustained in training. He joins Emanuele Giaccherini, Ricky Alvarez and Sebastian Coates in the treatment room for the visitors.

Sunderland notched their first win of the current campaign with a 3-1 win against Stoke City last time out, and with Steven Fletcher and Connor Wickham finally both available, will be looking to tie up a second win this weekend.

Prediction: 2-0