The interesting presentation Sunderland's players were given ahead of big Southampton test

Tony Mowbray says he believes his Sunderland side have shown they can compete with anybody in the Championship as they prepare for what is arguably their sternest test yet.

Southampton have made a strong start to their bid to bounce back from relegation last season and after a number of big sales over the summer have reinvested heavily in the closing stages of the transfer window.

Head coach Russell Martin is renowned for his possession-based style and Mowbray believes this could be one of the few games where his side don't dominate the ball.

However, he is confident that they have what it takes to cause the Saints problems and says the first-team group were given a presentation this week to show them

The key, of course, is in finding a way to turn that promising play into goals and given the tight timeframe involved from deadline day he will be trying to find that solution from the same group of players on Saturday.

"I think the performance level of the team has been alright, it's good," Mowbay said.

"We sat in here with the whole first team the other day and went through the first four matches. With things like field tilt, possession, the shots and touches in the opposition box, expected goals for and against... I'd have to say it was a pretty positive meeting.

"We're generally in the top six if not the top four for most of those things. I think we're second or third for expected goals against and yet we've conceded five goals, two big deflections that I can think of.

"I think the only thing that isn't really high is the goals for and in my opinion, there's a relevance to that. Even though we're having lots of the ball and getting into good areas lots, we don't seem to have a killer centre forward whose life depends on putting the ball in the back of the net.

"Once we resolve that I'm pretty sure we're going to be a good team. If we can do what we've done in four games over 40, we won't be far away I'm pretty sure."

Mowbray says his team's big dilemma is how to get the balance right between challenging Southampton and looking to exploit any vulnerability, while not overcommitting.

The head coach insisted that the chaos of deadline day would not impact his preparations, as his role in the recruitment is relatively limited.

"It doesn't impact me too much because my job is to coach the team," Mowbray said.

"We did that on Thursday morning, we prepared, I've been studying Southampton and they're a very good team. They're about ball retention, they're going to move it around the pitch.

"They probably, with total respect to Swansea City, have better individual quality when the coach was there.

"They're very possession-orientated and we have to make sure that in our stadium with our fans, together collectively we make life as difficult for them as we can."