Finishing sixth last year meant that Southampton were entered automatically into the Europa League group stages – among the continent’s elite – which means that there were top clubs such as AS Roma, Schalke 04 and Athletic Club in the mix, to name a few.
The draw took place exactly one week ago, meaning that pretty much every Saints fan was glued to the TV or the draw live on the UEFA website to see who the club were drawn against. It turned out to be a very good draw for the club in different ways. An away day to the San Siro to play Inter Milan was the standout fixture, as well as being drawn to play against two arguably weaker sides in the form of Sparta Prague and Hapoel Be’er Sheva, of Czech Republic and Israel respectively.
In this piece, I’ll be analysing and pointing out the biggest threats from each of the sides in the group, seeing how they can hurt us when we come up against them in the group stage matches, starting in just 13 days.
