Claus Lundekvam believes James Beattie will be on a mission tomorrow - to prove himself once again to the Saints fans.

The £6.5m striker returns to St Mary's for the first time since his departure for Everton last month looking to score his first Premiership goal for the Merseysiders.

It will be the task of Beattie's good friend and teammate for six years, Lundekvam, to try to stop him and the Norwegian centre half feels he can cope with any problems the former Saints goal ace gives him.

He said: "I'm looking forward to seeing James again but hopefully we can stop him scoring.

"He decided to move on and good luck to him.

"You can't really blame him. He wanted to try something else and all you can say is good luck to him.

"He's done well for us over the years.

"I think he's got higher visions of himself and he wants to try and get back into the England squad.

"I think he will want to come and prove himself again and what a good player he can be.

"He's scored one goal for Everton so far and I expect him to give everything he could give tomorrow."

Everton boss David Moyes has reported that Beattie is returning to full fitness and that is something that worries Lundekvam.

"I think Beattie is one of the best strikers in the country when he puts everything he's got into the game," he said.

"When he works really really hard that's when he gets his goals and that's when he plays well.

"He's very good in the air and his work rate is very good when he's on his game.

"I think we all know the case with Beatts is the fitter he is the better he is.

"He's a good box player and a good finisher and all of that will come with his work rate.

"He's a very talented player and it's no coincidence he's been our top scorer over the past few years."

Lundekvam was bitterly disappointed with Wednesday 2-1 defeat at Birmingham which broke the cycle of back-to-back home wins against Liverpool and Portsmouth.

He knows the gravity of the situation Saints are now in but believes they can kick-start themselves once again against fourth-placed Everton tomorrow.

"From our last two home games we've taken quite a few positives and I felt we've been quite a lot harder to break down and beat and hopefully we can do that again tomorrow," added Lundekvam.

"No doubt about it this game is winnable. I think we can beat anybody at home.

"They're a good side, very well organised, very hard to break down and I think they play the same system as we've been playing lately.

"It's going to be a very difficult game for us but I'm confident we can get something from it."