George Burley has hailed the impact of new Saints signings Wayne Thomas and Youssef Safri.

Thomas made his debut at Norwich last weekend and looked assured in the centre of defence while Safri has impressed in the centre of midfield.

Burley has been delighted with their performances so far and thinks there is plenty more to come.

He said: "The addition of Wayne Thomas and Youssef Safri has improved our squad from last season.

"Both these boys have came on permanent deals, which is ideal rather than having to have loan players in all the time.

"Thomas and Safri will be great acquisitions.

"The Norwich game was one in which Youssef could easily have lost his temper or got sent off, but he's an experienced player.

"His pass rate was 97 per cent successful - he hardly ever gives the ball away and he's strong and competitive as well.

"Thomas's strength and pace was there to be seen too."

Burley has been handed a boost in his search for Saints' first points of the new season with the return from suspension of Darren Powell, who could come straight in to face Stoke at St Mary's on Saturday.

"We played him for 45 minutes in the reserves this week because he's been doing a lot of training and we wanted him to get it under his belt," said Burley.

"He came through fine and will be added to the squad for Saturday, which is a big bonus.

"It's been a body blow missing Darren and Claus for the start of the season.

"For 60 minutes against Norwich last Saturday, we were outstanding.

"Norwich never really got a sniff and that starts from the back, where we were looking strong.

"Cureton never got a kick and ended up scoring two goals from a free-kick and another one he took well.

"Overall throughout the spine there was a lot of strength and energy and pace. That's encouraging.

"I'm very pleased to get Darren into the squad as well, because it gives us more strength in the back four."