Saints boss Mauricio Pellegrino is hoping for a hat-trick of injury boosts to his squad for Saturday’s crunch game at Watford.
Jeremy Pied, Cedric Soares and Wesley Hoedt have all returned to training, and are in contention to be involved at Vicarage Road.
It might be that the game comes a bit too soon for Cedric, who has been missing for several weeks, but Pellegrino will analyse them in training tomorrow before naming his side.
He said: “All of them have been training today with the team.
“They are not 100 per cent but tomorrow I think they will be part of the team in training.
“Until we decide because one thing is the medical condition and the other is the football condition. We analyse and we decide.
Southampton’s youngsters progressed to the semi-finals of the Senior Cup with a 3-0 victory over Winchester City at the Simplyhealth City Ground.
Nathan Tella opened the scoring on 16 minutes, when he found space on the left following a well-worked move before driving the ball across goal into the far corner.
That was before second-half goals from Tyreke Johnson and Siph Mdlalose made sure of their passage into the semi-final stage.
Radhi Jaïdi’s young charges were in the ascendancy for the most part against their non-league opponents, who had progressed past AFC Stoneham and Nursling previously.
Their early pressure paid dividends when Tella picked up the ball inside the area and gave the keeper no chance with a low shot.
Callum Slattery and Thomas O’Connor were instrumental in creating a host of chances from set-pieces with Mdlalose going close right on half-time. He took the ball in from Slattery’s incisive pass before hitting a bouncing ball just over the top from a tight angle.
Jaïdi and Danny Butterfield made two changes at the interval as Tyreke Johnson and Kameron Ledwidge replacing Tella and Will Wood.
And Johnson soon made an impact upon proceedings. O’Connor’s superb switch of play was picked up by Mdlalose, whose deft control and low cross helped tee up the onrushing Johnson at the far post.
Moments later, Mdlalose was on the scoresheet himself when he made it three with a composed finish from close range after a scramble in the box.
Saints travel to Vicarage Road hoping to build upon a 1-0 success against Fulham in the FA Cup, and begin to pull clear from the lower echelons of the table.
“I think our preparation it was good and in the last two games I observed that everybody is conscious about how we are and what we need to change the situation,” Pellegrino said.
“I think in all aspects we have moved one step forward and we want to show in the game against Watford that we are growing.”
The hosts currently sit 10th and having already shown their qualities at St Mary’s with a 2-0 win, Pellegrino is wary of what his side will come up against.
He said: “It’s a massive game because Watford are a difficult side. Obviously I feel we are much better prepared than the game at home because that was before an international break.
“Now we have to do something away that we couldn’t do at home. My team is better prepared.
“They can change it two or three different ways. They can play with five defenders, 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 but for me the most important is the style. They have got individual qualities, important qualities.
Saints host Watford in the FA Cup on Saturday 27th January (3.00pm). Ticket information is as follows:
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The Toffees are expected to table a £20million bid for the winger, who has fallen out of favour at the Emirates.
Southampton are also interested in Walcott, who came through their academy, but Sam Allardyce is confident of winning the race for the 28-year-old.
Walcott has scored 108 goals in 396 appearances in all competitions for Arsenal since his arrival from the Saints in 2006.
But he has fallen down Arsene Wenger’s pecking order to such an extent that he is still yet to start a Premier League game this season.
Walcott’s latest snub came on Wednesday for the Carabao Cup semi-final against Chelsea, when Alex Iwobi was picked ahead of him despite breaking club rules by partying ahead of the FA Cup defeat at Nottingham Forest.
Now the 47-cap England international looks set to move on with Everton hopeful of doing a £20m deal this month.
The Merseysiders are ready to match Walcott’s £110,000-a-week Arsenal wages to ensure he snubs interest from Southampton and joins them.
It’s Watford this weekend for Southampton! Ahead of the game, can you correctly identify the 20 players from the below list who played for Saints, but who did not play for the Hornets as well?
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