Agustin Delgado is set for a place on the bench in tomorrow's St Mary's clash with Fulham.

The controversial £3.2m Ecuadorian striker, who has made only two first team appearances in 11 months at Saints, is likely to be among the substitutes for the first time since January.

Fellow striker Marian Pahars has completed a one-match ban for his sending-off against Charlton but is almost certainly ruled out by a bug, paving the way for Delgado, who scored twice in a behind-closed-doors friendly in midweek, to come back into the squad.

Asked if Delgado was to start on the bench, Saints boss Gordon Strachan smiled: "He might do!"

Speaking of Delgado's comeback on Wednesday, Strachan added: "You've got to remember that he was playing against effectively Millwall's youth team - it was the most acne I have seen in a back four for a long time!

"So it's not like he was playing against top players but he showed that, if you can put the ball in the box, he can score and it will be a bonus for us if we can get him going."

Strachan has told his side they will need to be at the top of their form if they are to win tomorrow against a Fulham side only slightly ahead of Saints in the table.

He said: "I have seen their two games. Last Saturday against Manchester United they had a very good game and could have won and maybe should have.

"But, on Wednesday, West Ham deserved their win.

"We are preparing to play the Fulham that could have beaten Manchester United and we will have to play at our best to beat them."

But the Saints boss believes that, on their day, his team can be a match for anybody in the division. "All you can do is ask for the performance level and our best level is good enough to take anybody on," said Strachan

"There are exceptions like Manchester United and Arsenal who are fantastic, but not many teams can live with that and there's nothing embarrassing about that."