Man of the moment Jay Rodriguez is one of three Saints players battling to be fit for Saturday's clash with West Ham after contracting a virus over the last week.

Rodriguez is the talk of the top flight after scoring in each of his last three games as Saints put together wins over Liverpool, Chelsea and Reading.

However, he, full back Luke Shaw and midfielder Jason Puncheon are all struggling ahead of the visit of the Hammers.A virus has laid all three low over the last week and Mauricio Pochettino faces an anxious wait to see which, if any, of them are available to start at St Mary's.

Though the Saints boss is desperate to make it four top flight wins on the spin for the club for only the second time in more than 20 years, he also knows safety is all but assured for his side, relieving the pressure slightly.

Certainly he is not short of options in the attacking positions.

Puncheon was on the bench anyway for the win at Reading and Adam Lallana and Gaston Ramirez will vie for Rodriguez's place if he doesn't make it.

Danny Fox is likely to come is as a straight swap for Shaw if the teenager is unavailable.

The winners of the fixture with West Ham would move onto 40 points for the season and could move into the top half of the Premier League table.

Pochettino feels hitting the 40-point target would be enough to secure a second successive top-flight campaign for the Saints, but also wants to push on for the duration of the season.

“It is a reality that we are facing and I agree (that 40 points would be enough),” he said.

“It is a really important game against West Ham. Getting a win would be our fourth successive win.

“But we need the help of everyone. We are aware of West Ham; fitness-wise and physically they are a very strong team and we saw the best of them earlier in the season. We are aware it is going to be a very difficult game."