Lallana gives Saints a boost

England Under-21 international Adam Lallana has been declared fit and is available for selection as Saints host Derby County at St Mary's tonight.

The young starlet had previously missed the games against Ipswich and Birmingham due to injury, but he is back in the squad for the visit of Nigel Clough's men.

The midfielder impressed in the reverse fixture earlier on in the season, with some quarters crediting Lallana with the goal that gave Saints victory at Pride Park back in August.

Speaking to The Daily Echo, Saints' Head Coach Mark Wotte said, "Adam is available for tonight. That's a good thing, because Adam can create a lot, he can give us more offensive variations, so I'm happy."

Although Southampton's three-match winning streak came to an abrupt end at Birmingham, Wotte has vowed not to make too many changes.

"I'm not keen on changing too soon," he said. "We won three matches, we played three excellent matches, and I have to give credit to the players that did that.

"So it's either Morgan Schneiderlin or Adam Lallana or David McGoldrick that has to start on the bench. That's the only worry that I have, that's the only decision that I have to take."

Wotte was very critical of McGoldrick's performance at Birmingham in his post-match interviews, describing it as 'poor', and the Dutch boss subbed the troubled striker at half-time.

Despite that, the 52-year-old is likely to keep faith with him after three impressive displays prior to that.

"A young player is entitled to play a not so good 45 minutes, it doesn't mean he's not good enough to start again," he said.

"We have to be careful to make changes after you lose a game, because the three wins in a row proved that we can do a good job with the players.

"The most important thing is that the players that are starting are fully committed and fully focused on a good performance."

Should Saints pick up three points tonight, there is a chance that they could climb out of the bottom three for the first time since Christmas.

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