Saints midfielder Victor Wanyama is hoping to have more
special European nights in Southampton colours as they prepare for the Europa
League qualifier against FC Midtjylland.
The Kenyan scored on a memorable night for Celtic against
Barcelona in their Champions League win in November 2012.
Wanyama experienced some fairly pressurised situations
whilst at Celtic Park, but believes it is just as important for Saints to do
just as well this time round “I handled it at Celtic. Here it is good. There is
a lot of expectations with our fans and there is pressure to perform well.”
The Danish champions will be welcomed to St Mary’s tonight
in a game that puts both teams just two games away from the group stages.
As Saints brushed aside Dutch opposition Vitesse by 5-0 on
aggregate in the previous round, Midtjylland were knocked out of the Champions
League qualifying round which therefore pushed them down to the Europa League.
You can’t write the Danish side off as they have made an impressive
start to their league campaign winning four and drawing one of their opening
five games to the season.
Although they aren’t known that well in England, Wanyama
spoke about how you have to respect the opposition that you are coming up against, “I don’t
know much about them but they are a good side because to be in Europe you have
to be a good team.”
Ronald Koeman on Wednesday afternoon confirmed that on loan
defender Steven Caulker will be available for selection after he recovered from
his illness. But also key men Ryan Bertrand and Jordy Clasie will be back and
available after the international break at the start of September.
The visitors manager Jess Thorup has said that he has no
fresh injury concerns but did reveal that former Saints academy man Tim Sparv
will feature in the tie at St Mary’s, eight years after leaving the club.
Thorup said ahead of the game “It would be big, it would be
huge. Not just for us, especially for us, but also for the teams in Denmark. It
would show everybody that we are on the right way.
“We know a bit more about them because in Denmark the
Premier League is a big league. Everybody follows that league, so hopefully
that will give us a good result and hopefully we can score a goal. I think that
will be necessary for us to achieve our goals.”
Thorup ended and continued to praise Ronald Koeman but also
the club in general “they have a nice stadium and a good set of fans – it really
is a great club.”
The man to look out for is young winger Pione Sisto who was
born in Uganda but has made four appearances for the Danish under 21’s side
scoring four goals in the process.
He was named Player of the Year by the Danish football
association last year and that has already led to some interest from a host of
European clubs in the last year. You’ll be able to spot him in the number 27
shirt.
Some encouragement for Saints fans is that FC Midtjylland
have never reached a group stage of European competition although their owner
Matthew Benham has set them a target of doing so three times by 2020.
Although Southampton haven’t progressed through two rounds
of since 1976/77 when reaching the quarter finals of the European Cup Winners’
Cup.
Goals could become important tonight as the Danish side are
prolific at home having lost just one of their 17 home games last season and
winning the rest with the one defeat coming in their penultimate game of the
campaign against Brondby.
Predicted Saints line up- Stekelenburg; Cedric, Caulker, Fonte (C), Martina; Davis, Wanyama; Mane, Tadic, Long; Pelle.
@clewes_matt
