Southampton will be faced with the task of overcoming a potentially resilient Sunderland side this Saturday as they prepare to take on the backlash of Sam Allardyce’s team after their embarrassing 6-2 defeat to Everton last Sunday.
It is clear that Southampton are the team in form heading into this tie, with Sunderland sitting in 19th place as The Saints are gaining more and more consistently, consequently finding themselves in 7th place, just four points shy of the Champions League qualification places after a routine victory against Sunderland’s fellow relegation rivals, Bournemouth.
Ahead of Saturday’s game, Ronald Koeman has no fresh injury concerns off the back of his side’s 2-0 victory over Bournemouth; however striker Jay Rodriguez will remain sidelined with a foot injury. Despite returning to first team training this week, Shane Long has also been deemed as unavailable and not ready to feature for The Saints this weekend, but manager Koeman hopes to see Long fit after the international break, as he does for Rodriguez. Southampton will also be without the suspended Victor Wanyama who saw red last Sunday for two naive yellow cards, ruling him out of the trip to Sunderland.
For Sunderland, there is just one recent injury to their squad after captain Lee Cattermole picked up a groin injury last week in their 6-2 loss to Everton. However, it is not all bad news for Sam Allardyce and his side as Younes Kaboul, John O’Shea, Ola Toivonen and Fabio Borini are all set to return to the Sunderland side after they have recovered from their injuries to face Southampton on Saturday.
Although it is widely expected, on paper, that Southampton should come away with a victory in this game, Ronald Koeman’s side must be wary of a potential Sunderland backlash as the team have a lot to prove to their supporters after such a poor start to the Premier League season.
However, with Sunderland out with a point to prove, The Saints will look to take advantage of their defensive frailties with the ever-dangerous attacking trio of Sadio Mane, Dusan Tadic and Graziano Pelle. The three Southampton attackers have been in unstoppable form this season and will be looking to heap more misery on The Black Cats this Saturday.
A win for Southampton could take them as high as 5th with a large victory over Sunderland, however the home side will be desperate to set the record straight after last week’s horror show, to climb up to 16th place and more significantly – out of the relegation zone.
Southampton will hope to continue their highly impressive unbeaten away record so far this season, but are well aware of the threat that Sunderland possess.
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