Morgan Schneiderlin could be back in the Saints team before the end of the season after making a much quicker than expected recovery from his knee injury.

The Frenchman had been ruled out for the remainder of the campaign following the problem he suffered in the draw with Tottenham.

However, Schneiderlin has made fast progress and Saints boss Ronald Koeman admitted he could even be back as soon as next weekend.

He said: “It’s going much better but not close to be part of training.

“I mentioned last week maybe he is out until the end of the season but maybe fit for the last one or two.

“We have to wait but it looks a bit more positive than a week ago.”

Koeman confirmed that Jay Rodriguez and Emmanuel Mayuka are both back in regular training, but neither is ready for this weekend’s game at Leicester.

Dusan Tadic will also be missing once more with Koeman admitting he may not play for the club again this season in order to try and fully solve his groin problem.

“That’s possible because I spoke to Dusan and he was struggling a long time with a groin problem and we said ‘ok we have to stop now, we can’t continue like this because maybe you have in pre-season the same problem for next season’,” reported Koeman.

“It’s going better but going slowly and maybe yes, maybe not, but we will see.”