Sunderland take on Southampton at St Mary’s on Saturday and Sam Allardyce will be hoping his side can carry on from where they left off in the game against Crystal Palace in midweek and produce another game without a defeat.
The point against Palace lifted the Black Cats out of the bottom three and the boss has said that a point will be a good result at Southampton, but a win would mean that Sunderland are not relying on other sides.
Saints manager Ronald Koeman will have his side up for the win, he will be looking for a response after two poor results on the bounce against Chelsea and Bournemouth.
And they need to get back to picking up points if they are to keep up their challenge for Europa Cup football next season.
Team news.
Shane Long and Charlie Austin both picked up injuries in the defeat to Bournemouth in midweek. Long misses the game with a knee injury while Austin will be out for up to four weeks.
Jay Rodriguez (ankle) and Florin Gardos (knee) are both still out of action.
Sunderland captain John O’Shea should be fit again for the long journey south, a tight calf muscle forced the 34 year old out of the Palace game before half time, but scans have revealed that the problem was not as serious as first thought.
But its a different storey for Lee Cattermole, he misses the game after suffering concussion after colliding heads with Jordan Mutch.
Also remaining on the sidelines is Jeremain Lens who is still receiving treatment for a hernia operation and Duncan Watmore remains out with an ankle ligament complaint.
Stats From OPTA.
The Black Cats have kept the joint-fewest clean sheets in the Premier League this season (3).
Saints have won none of their last 11 Premier League matches where the opposition have scored.
Sunderland have gone 14 games without a clean sheet.
Southampton have scored the most headed goals in the Premier League this season (11).
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