Southampton have been League One's draw specialists so far, with six stalemates from their nine League One outings so far.

Alan Pardew's side are still waiting to wipe out the 10-point deficit with which they started the season, but had to wait until deep into stoppage-time before they grabbed their equaliser in Saturday's 1-1 draw at Carlisle.

And Pardew knows his side will face a stiff test back on home soil this evening. He said: "Bristol Rovers are a tricky bunch and they're having a great season so far.

"We signed Rickie Lambert from them and they've continued to get good results. So it's a tough game for us off the back of a decent performance at Carlisle, although it wasn't the result we wanted."

Pardew is telling his defenders to beware of the Pirates' front two – and he knows all about on-loan Chris Dickson, having previously worked with the marksman at Charlton.

"The two strikers are dangerous," he said. "The one I had at Charlton, Dickson, is unpredictable.

"That unpredictability is a danger and our defenders need to be alert at all times. They're different kinds of strikers to our guys and, as I say, that unpredictability brings its own problems, so we will be looking to make sure we counter that." Pardew has been chopping and changing his line-up so far, but the likelihood is that Kelvin Davis will be in goal with a back four of Lloyd James, Neal Trotman, Radhi Jaidi and Dan Harding.

Adam Lallana, Dean Hammond, Morgan Schneiderlin and Joseph Mills could take the midfield slots, with Lambert and Marek Saganowski up front.