THE RETURN of Tino Livramento will be a “massive boost” for Saints according to Stuart Armstrong, with the Scot excited to be playing alongside the starlet once again.

Livramento has quickly become a fan favourite at St Mary’s thanks to his stunning performances at right-back, with his teammates constantly signing his praises.

There had been fears the summer signing would be out for some time when boss Ralph Hasenhuttl hinted at a potential meniscus tear back in January, but the Chelsea youth product missed just six games.

The England under-21 international played the entirety of regulation time during the FA Cup tie with Coventry, coming off before the start of extra-time.

However, Hasenhuttl admitted that the original plan had been to limit the wing-back to just an hour of game time, with a dogged Coventry forcing Saints to keep their best players on the field in search of a breakthrough.

29-year-old Armstrong told the Daily Echo just how highly he rates his teammate, saying: “He’s a top quality player and he’s obviously shown that lots of times – a lot of potential.

“It’s a massive boost to the team to have him back.”

Whilst Livramento missed only six games due to injury, it was the first time Armstrong had properly shared a pitch with his teammate since November, with the Scottish international hampered by injury problems of their own.

The duo did play with each other very briefly in the Boxing Day victory over West Ham, with Armstrong coming off the bench for one minute of action.

Armstrong went on to reveal how he was looking forward to rekindling the connection with Livramento down the right-hand flank, stating: “We were speaking today after the game that we haven’t played together for such a long time on that right side.

“I was out and then he was, so it was really good to play with him again today.

Saints will be hoping to have both Livramento and Armstrong fully fit when they travel to Tottenham on Wednesday evening (kick-off 7.45pm).

Hasenhuttl hinted that he was looking to rely on Armstrong more frequently in the next few weeks, with the Austrian hoping that Armstrong has “now reached a point where he is more stable”.