Southampton hopeful of huge boost ahead of crunch Everton clash

Southampton are hopeful that new signing Carlos Alcaraz will be available for their clash against Everton tomorrow (15.00 GMT).

Alcaraz, a midfielder, has completed a £12 million move to St Mary's from Argentinean outfit Racing Club. He's the south-coast outfit's second arrival of the January transfer window after recruiting Mislav Orsic from Dinamo Zagreb.

There is plenty at stake when Everton entertain Southampton at Goodison Park with both sides in the Premier League relegation battle. The Toffees are 18th in the table after just one league win in 10 games. While pressure is on manager Frank Lampard, fans have become frustrated by the club's board and called for 'sweeping changes'.

Southampton, meanwhile, are rooted to the bottom and are three points adrift of safety. Nathan Jones has lost all four top-flight games since taking charge at St Mary's in November but did engineer a 2-0 victory over Manchester City to book the Saints' spot in the Carabao Cup semi-finals earlier this week.

That result will give Southampton confidence heading to Merseyside and they could have a new player in Alcaraz in their squad.

On the chances of the 20-year-old being in the Saints' squad, Jones said: “[The paperwork] should be done. We’re just waiting for the visa and things and stuff like that - but hopefully he is [available for the weekend].”

Armel Bella-Kotchap, Juan Larios, Valentino Livramento, Alex McCarthy and former Everton winger Theo Walcott have all been ruled out of the clash for Southampton due to injury.