GRAZIANO Pelle is expected to return from injury tomorrow to pep up a Saints attack which has virtually forgotten how to score.

The Italian international – the club’s nine-goal top scorer this term – has not played since the 2-0 home loss to Tottenham six days before Christmas.

But he is expected back to face Watford at St Mary’s as the club bids to end its worse losing streak since 1998.

Pelle, Sadio Mane and Dusan Tadic are generally regarded as Saints’ first choice attackers – the club’s creative and goalscoring crown jewels.

But, remarkably, the trio have only scored twice in their last THIRTY SEVEN combined first team appearances!

And one of those goals – Tadic’s winner at Sunderland in early November – was a penalty.

Pelle should return tomorrow having not scored since the start of November – a run of six games without a goal.

Tadic has only scored once in his last 19 league and cup outings – and that was the aforementioned spot-kick at the Stadium of Light.

And Mane’s goal in the 6-1 League Cup hammering by Liverpool remains his only goal in his last 12 appearances.

Ronald Koeman’s men have lost eight of their last ten competitive games.

That run has seen the club slip down to mid-table in the Premier League and been dumped out of both domestic cup competitions on home soil.

It is Saints’ worse run since the start of the 1998/99 campaign, where Dave Jones oversaw eight losses and two draws in his side’s first 10 league and cup games.

Saints lost seven of their first eight league games that term, drawing the other, and also lost 2-1 on aggregate to third tier Fulham in the League Cup.

Last weekend’s 2-1 home loss to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup left Saints having scored just nine times in their last ten matches.

Take away the incredible 4-0 slaying of Arsenal on Boxing Day, and the remaining nine matches have provided just five goals.

And one of those was Carl Jenkinson’s own goal in the 2-1 loss at West Ham on December 28.

Shane Long is the only recognised Saints striker to have scored since Pelle last netted in the 2-0 win against Bournemouth on November 1.

He has netted three of Saints’ nine goals in their last ten games, including a brace against Arsenal.

Midfielder Oriol Romeu – not noted for his goalscoring – is Saints’ second top scorer behind Long in their current dismal run.

Having scored only one competitive goal in the previous four seasons prior to 2015/16, his consolation strike against Palace was his second goal of the season.

Koeman’s obvious dilemma now is whether to drop Long back to the bench to accommodate the return of Pelle.

Alternatively, he could move Long to a wide right role, recal Tadic to the left of midfield, and deploy Mane in just behind Pelle.

Some of Mane’s best form for Saints has come when he has played through the middle.

Koeman has only started one league game with the attacking quartet of Pelle, Long, Mane and Tadic all in the XI.

That was the 3-0 home loss to Everton back in August, and that result might remain in his mind when he comes to choosing his starting team tomorrow night.

But Saints, as recent statistics clearly show, need to start scoring goals again.

Young strikers Ryan Seager and Sam Gallagher would clearly love a chance, but this is not the time to throw the academy graduates into what could be deemed a must-win encounter.

That means Pelle has to rely on his crown jewels, and hope they start scoring sooner rather than later.