Saints are facing a central midfield crisis as they aim to end their worst losing run of the 21st century when they welcome Everton to St Mary’s on Saturday.

First-choice duo Morgan Schneiderlin and Victor Wanyama will both miss this weekend’s game, having each picked up their fifth booking of the season in the embarrassing Capital One Cup defeat at Sheffield United.

Saints, who are hoping to arrest an alarming run of five straight league and cup defeats – for the first time since the start of the 1998/99 season – need Steven Davis fit as they will also be without Jack Cork, inset right, who will be sidelined for some weeks yet with an ankle injury.

Manager Ronald Koeman will therefore be desperately hoping that Davis is able to return to the line-up, having not been fit enough to play at Bramall Lane on Tuesday.

Davis is normally deployed in a more advanced position, but has dropped deeper when required and is more than capable in that area.

If he is not available, then Saints will be desperately short of options.

There is clearly a strong chance that Toby Alderweireld will again be pushed forward from centre-back into a holding midfield position, having performed impressively there during the recent defeats against Manchester City and Arsenal.

That would, therefore, mean Maya Yoshida partnering Jose Fonte in defence with Florin Gardos also suspended after his late red card at Bramall Lane.

The Romanian was shown a straight red at United and will now be banned for three games.

Harrison Reed remains an option to play in central midfield this weekend.

But Koeman has so far been reluctant to use the 19-year-old, who is yet to graduate further than being a regular presence on the substitute's bench.

The Saints boss also has James Ward-Prowse at his disposal again, following his return from a fractured foot.

The England under-21 international completed his first 90 minutes for Saints since August at Bramall Lane after returning from a two month lay-off as a sub at Burnley last weekend.

He is more likely to be used in one of the attacking midfield positions, where Koeman is again a little light.

Dusan Tadic did not feature against the Blades, having not been completely fresh, but will almost certainly return on Saturday, hopefully re-energised.

Koeman must also decide whether to persist with Mane, as the winger continues to struggle for form, having had a particularly bad night on Tuesday.

With Graziano Pelle returning from a one-match suspension, Koeman does have the choice of moving Shane Long back to a wide position if he feels it right to give Mane a break.

An attacking midfield trio of Long or Mane, with Tadic and Ward-Prowse would give Koeman some flexibility in how he used them.

Tadic and Ward-Prowse are both capable of playing either in a wide position or the central role behind Pelle.

Long could also play off of Pelle.

Whatever the case, it is far from ideal for Saints to be heading into the clash with Everton without a number of key players, notably their three top holding midfielders.

Having now lost five games in a row, following the dismal defeat at Sheffield United, and having dropped out of the top four in the table, they are in need of a positive result quickly.

With the Everton game being followed by a trip to Crystal Palace, home matches against Chelsea and Arsenal, then a trip to Manchester United, their schedule is not getting much easier in the Premier League either.